TOT THROWN 10 FLOORS
Witness describes miracle escape from hellish blaze
A DESPERATE mum threw her baby from a window to a hero on the ground as panic spread through Grenfell Tower.
Samira Lamrani watched in horror as the child sailed through the air from the “ninth or 10th floor”.
She said: “I saw a mother was at a window and she was gesturing for someone to catch her baby.
“She wrapped the baby in some kind of blanket and threw the baby from about the ninth or 10th floor.
“A gentleman who was standing beside me ran forward and grabbed the baby.
“The baby landed in the gentleman’s arms and I believed it survived but I did not see the woman again.”
She added: “I could see people from all angles screaming for help. The look on their face was death.
“An adult made some sort of homemade parachute and tried to lower himself out of the window.”
Samira said the “high-pitched voices” of terrified children inside the tower will “remain with me for a long time”.
Witnesses said people on the ground caught children dropped from as high as the 15th floor.
Several babies were thrown to safety wrapped in carpets, rugs and towels.
Residents saw adults and a child on fire jump from the top floors to “certain death”.
Others tried to flee the blaze by using bedsheets knotted together to lower themselves to safety.
Soraya Abdilla, 30, said she watched helplessly as trapped victims were “burnt alive” in their homes.
She added: “I saw one woman throw her child out of the window and jump after her. There was nobody at the bottom.”
Another resident, Zara, saw a woman throw her five-year-old son from a sixth-floor window.
She said: “I think he’s OK. I think he might have had some broken bones and bruises.
“There was another woman screaming, ‘My baby, my baby, I need to get out, I need to save my baby.’ We couldn’t do anything.”
A resident who did not want to be named said: “I saw a kid on the 22nd floor on fire. He walked to the window and he jumped.”
Adam Ahmed, 17, said: “I saw five or six people jump from the top. There is no way they survived.”
Another witness, Elvis Burke said bodies littered the ground.
Mickey Paramasivan tucked his six-year-old stepdaughter Thea under his dressing gown and ran downstairs to escape the inferno.
He said: “When we were outside we looked up at the tower and it was like a horror movie.
“I could see people banging on their windows or flashing their lights, then some of the windows started blowing out. It was horrific.
“One woman got down from the 12th floor, left her flat with her six kids but there were only four when she got to the bottom.”
Aalya Moses said her fourthfloor neighbour, whose fridge may have sparked the fire, alerted her at 1.45am.
She said: “There was no alarm, no sprinkler, just my neighbour, who told everyone on my floor and the surrounding floors. If he hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known. Soon it was up to the 23rd floor.”
Jacqui Haynes, who has lived on the estate for 40 years, said the blaze took hold with frightening speed.
She said: “There was a fire on the fourth floor and then I just watched that whole building go up.
“There was nothing that could be done.
“That’s the hardest thing, to watch that and hear people screaming, people throwing themselves out of windows.
“They must have been on the
15th, 16th floor and underneath the tower is concrete. That must have been some kind of desperation.
“People were screaming, ‘Help me, help me please.’”
Saimir Lleshi, 40, said: “I saw someone try and make a rope with the sheets but I don’t think the sheets reached the bottom.”
Youngsters from a nearby mosque tried desperately to save loved ones inside the tower.
A local said: “The boys were saying, ‘Our families are in there, they’re dying.’”
The resident added: “Riot police were holding up shields to stop debris falling on the fire brigade.
“You could see through the building all the windows were exploding.
“One girl’s aunt was ringing her saying, ‘I’m burning alive.’ How do you comfort someone?”
Joe Walsh, 58, said: “I saw a parent throw two kids out of the window.
“I don’t know where they landed as I was on the other side. I doubt anyone caught them, I hope they did. It would have been the fifth or sixth floor up.”
Samia Badani, 41, who was in a flat overlooking the inferno, watched as a victim caught fire in her property.
She said: “She was banging on her window, screaming. I saw her just get totally engulfed in flames.”
Student Tiago Etienne, 17, witnessed families throwing their children out of windows from the 15th floor.
Tiago said: “I saw about three children between the ages of four and eight being thrown. The screaming was loud. It was terrible.”
Ann Waters, 57, said: “It was the screaming that was the worst. It was like something out of a nightmare.”
Rashad Naqshbandi, 24, was last night searching for news of his uncle, who lived on 23rd floor of the tower.
He said: “We were on the phone and then he stopped answering at around 6am.
“We were told he was on the stairs and then he just went missing from there.
“He lived with his wife and son who are both in a coma because of smoke.”
Reliving the horror, Michael Creazea, 31, said: “I saw people jumping out of windows.
“I saw people screaming and waving their T-shirts outside the windows for help – but there was fire above and below them.
“Knowing they wouldn’t get out and seeing then was hard to take. It was really sad. God bless their souls.”