A young family who were among the lucky survivors of the Grenfell Tower blaze recalled how they managed to escape from the 11th floor, despite being trapped for hours.
Natasha Elcock and her family were among those who remained indoors as notices in the building had instructed.
But as the fire ripped through the tower, firefighters told Natasha over the phone to leave. Natasha, who lived in the tower for 20 years, said: “We tried the door but it was too hot.”
The 39-year-old, her boyfriend, and her six-year-old daughter were trapped. Quick-thinking Natasha decided to turn on the bathroom taps to flood the apartment and keep it damp.
“I let the bathroom flood. It kept the flat damp. It may have saved our lives,” she explained.
The terrified family huddled together while they waited for the fire brigade to rescue them.
“We had our little girl on the wet floor, and we went to the coldest room,” Natasha explained. "The door was buckling and the windows bubbling and cracking. It was terrifying.”
The desperate mum called for help “almost 100 times”, once even being put through to emergency services in Glasgow, according to The Sun.
At 3am, they were finally rescued and had to step over a body on their way out of the tower. The family were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
There are fears 'more than 100' could have died in the #GrenfellTower inferno https://t.co/VwCrPFUVtx pic.twitter.com/9aq1kz48VB
— The Sun (@TheSun) June 15, 2017
The 24 storey tower block had 120 apartments, with many families residing in it. So far, 17 people have been confirmed dead but the death toll is expected to rise significantly.
Dozens of people are still missing and unaccounted for. 74 people have been taken to hospitals around London with 18 in a critical condition.
It’s believed cladding panels fitted to the outside of the building to improve energy efficiency are to the blame for how quickly the blaze spread.
Authorities say that it’s too early to pinpoint the cause of the blaze but residents say the fire originated from a faulty fridge on the fourth floor, according to The Sun.
Members of an action group at Grenfell Tower claim they flagged alleged safety issues with the building in the past, and that safety notices in the tower told residents to stay in the building in the event of a fire.
On a residents blog, concerned families wrote that they believed the building posed a fire risk and that "only a catastrophic event will expose" the issues.
Yesterday morning, the group posted on their website that they "predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time".
They described their concerns as falling on "deaf ears".
Our thoughts are with all the residents and their families at this time.
