GRENFELL BABY DIED IN HER MUM’S ARMS
Inferno tragedy inquest hears how six-month-old Leena was found on stairs with body of her mother
A BABY girl was found dead cradled in her mother’s arms in Grenfell Tower, an inquest heard yesterday.
The bodies of six-month-old Leena Belkadi and her mum Farah Hamdan were in a stairwell between the 19th and 21st floors of the gutted London tower block.
The baby’s sister Malak, eight, was found on the 20th floor – where the family lived – and rushed to hospital but doctors could not save her.
The girls’ father Omar Belkad also died in the blaze and their sister Tazmin, six, is being treated in hospital.
Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox yesterday opened and adjourned the inquests into seven victims of the disaster, including Leena and Malak.
The hearing was told both girls died from the inhalation of smoke.
The other victims included Syrian refugee Mohammed Al Haj Ali.
The 23-year-old, who was studying engineering, was the first fatality of the disaster to be formally identified by police.
His body was found outside the tower and his cause of death was given as multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a height, the inquest heard.
Dr Wilcox offered her “sincere condolences” to two of his family members, believed to be his brothers, who attended the hearing.
Yesterday, police said the death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire is believed to be about 80 people, the vast majority of whom were from just 23 flats.
Contact has been made with at least one occupant from 106 of the 129 flats.
From those properties, 18 people are dead or assumed dead, meaning the remaining victims are thought to have been in 23 flats wiped out by the inferno.
Met Police Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said: “There are 23 flats that despite huge efforts, we have been unable to trace anyone that lives there.
“At this stage we must presume no one in those flats survived. That includes anyone who lived there or was visiting them.”
McCormack said the recovery operation at the block would take at least until the end of the year.
She added: “We are many months from being able to provide a number which accurately represents the total loss of life.”