‘They think you move on and it is easy. But it’s not’
NABIL CHOUCAIR lost his mother, sister, brother-in-law and their three children – his three nieces – in the Grenfell inferno: three generations wiped out on the same night.
Nabil is deeply critical of the “stay put” policy that remained in place, according to reports, for almost two hours. He has listened to recordings of frantic phone calls made to the fire control room by Bassem Choukair, his 40-year-old brother-in-law.
The family – Bassem, who worked for Marks and Spencer, wife Nadia Choucair, a teaching assistant in a local school, and their three children, Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and three-yearold Zainab – lived in flat 193. Sirria Choucair, 60, Nadia’s mother and the children’s grandmother, lived across the landing, in flat 191.
“I heard the voice calls. I heard the emergency calls,” explained Nabil. “Our police liaison officers allowed us to hear the family’s calls. I could hear the emergency services [saying] stay
‘We can hear Bassem’s voice. We can hear other members of the family in the background. You can hear the children. It’s not easy to listen to’
put. Eventually, they turned around and said try and get out. By then it was obviously too late. It was well past two o’clock.
“On the calls, we can hear Bassem’s voice. We can hear other members of the family in the background.
“You can hear the children. It’s not easy to listen to.”
He is convinced the policy should have been changed sooner. He recognises the huge problems caused by the cladding and the refurbishment of the tower, but questions the evacuation policy, too.
“Without doubt they should have changed the ‘stay put’ order earlier,” said Nabil. “You have had somebody on the outside knowing what is going on and somebody inside obviously saying this fire is bigger than we can cope with.
“The fire was getting bigger and bigger and they should have changed their strategy to tackle it.”
Nabil, who lives in east London and is married to Bassem’s sister – the families were particularly close as a consequence – said: “By 1.20am, 1.30am, it was beyond control. There is no way they could tackle it at that height. Their strategy should have changed immediately. It was common sense, but they didn’t show it. I hold a lot of people responsible.
“I cannot say they would have survived. God takes a life when he wants to take a life. When your time is up, your time is up.”
Bassem made a series of calls to the emergency services, Nabil estimates as frequently as every five minutes. He then sent a text message to work at 1.20am, apologising that he was unlikely to be in the next day because of the fire breaking out in the tower.
“They [Bassem and family] were aware of the fire definitely by around 1.20am because my brother-in-law sent a text message to his workplace – he was a supervisor at a local M&S store – to say he wouldn’t be able to come to work and sorry. He was due in on the early shift and he sent a text saying sorry there is a fire in the flats and sorry I have let you down. M&S showed me the text that he sent.” About 1.50am, his sister left Nabil a message on his phone. “It was just to say goodbye. It was a voice message to say ‘hi, there is a fire in the tower’,” he said.
Nabil went on: “They were under the assumption they would be rescued. There was a police helicopter but they thought it was a rescue helicopter. They kept asking send the helicopter so we can get in it and get out. All the time they thought they would be rescued.
“I understand and I do sympathise with the firefighters. I do hear from their side.”
The family had come to Britain from Lebanon in 1972 and Nabil, himself a father-of-three, took the bodies back for burial. They were a close-knit family and the cousins would see each other at least once a week. “They were so close. There was nothing we would keep from each other.”
He added: “Now I am looking for accountability and responsibility. People should come out and speak the truth about what happened on the night.
“It is as though it happened today. It is that fresh. They think you can move on and it is easy. But it’s not. They were just taken away from me just like that.
“No explanation. Not even a chance. It has destroyed us.”