When I saw the picture Ahmed drew of the fire I started to cry.. I can’t bring them back to this
Dad tells how his young kids have been left traumatised by tower block inferno
A REFUGEE family have told of their devastation after a blaze at their home left their children too scared to return.
Dad-of-four Mutasim Mohamed was forced to shelter his family on the balcony of their Edinburgh maisonette flat after heat and smoke from the inferno stopped them from escaping.
The 43-year-old told how he broke down in tears watching his youngest son being lifted to safety from their fourth-floor flat in Durar Drive, Clermiston, on Wednesday.
His wife, Sara, 36, was too scared to be lifted over and stayed on the ledge with her husband for more than two hours, surrounded by plumes of smoke.
After eventually being allowed to walk down the damp and damaged stairs, Sara was treated with oxygen before being reunited with her kids.
Now the four youngsters – who fled from their war-torn home in Sudan last year – are too traumatised to go back to the badly damaged tower block.
Youngest son Ahmed, five, even drew a picture of the moment he thought he was saying goodbye to his parents forever. It appears to show smoke in the sky and depicts his parents’ plight as the incident unfolded. He signed it off with “The End”.
Tearful Mutasim told the Record: “My children are in shock. They are too scared to come back to the flat because they think it is still going to be on fire.
“My wife and I do not have a problem coming back but the children will be even more traumatised when they see the condition of the stairs. The smell and smoke damage is everywhere.
“When I saw the picture that Ahmed had drawn, I just started crying.
“My children are terrified and I cannot bring them back to this. I told them we were being told to come back and they