Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
24 suicide bids by Grenfell survivors
One attempt for every floor of the burnt out blaze tower
THERE have been 24 suicide bids by people who survived or witnessed the Grenfell Tower fire, say volunteers.
The shocking figure emerged as more than 100 families who lived in the tower block prepare to spend Christmas Day in hotels and other temporary digs.
Alex Adewunmi, 47, said: “There have been 24 suicide attempts since the fire. People here are angry and struggling to cope. They’re suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“The Government is not treating them fairly and the council are not doing as much as they should. They’re not filling people’s needs and they don’t care. We’ve had to fill the void. It’s madness.”
Mr Adewunmi, an assistant at the Christian Tabernacle Centre near the blackened tower, was one of the first people on the ground after the fire, which swept the 24-storey block, claiming 71 lives last June.
He now visits survivors at hotels every week to help them.
He added: “We have 125 families on our books. Some are staying in temporary homes and some are in hotels. We just want to see them get justice.
“Survivors are being offered homes that are not suitable and being told ‘take it or leave it’ by the local borough, even though it has £400million in reserve.
“They’re penny pinching and not giving these people the help they need.
“It’s going to take years for these people to recover. We think five years.”
Some 101 households, including 17 families with 34 children, remain in hotels, say Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Mark Simms, head of the Rugby Portobello Trust charity, said survivors were “deceived” over how long it would take to rehouse them.
Council are not giving these people the help they need
ALEX ADEWUNMI ON THE GRENFELL FIRE SURVIVORS