Many moving stories are coming out relating to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. In recent news, friends of 32-year-old Fadumo Ahmed assumed she was dead from the June 14 blaze that destroyed the Grenfell Tower apartment building. While missing persons notices were posted around the city, nothing was heard about their friend — they could only assume the worst. However it has now been reported that Ahmed did survive the fire and is recovering in hospital, surrounded by her family.
Ahmed called her mother to say goodbye, unable to escape
Ahmed lived on the 19th floor of the 24-story tower block where many of the residents became trapped by the flames and smoke. They died before firefighters could reach them. Friends knew Ahmed called her mother during the fire, saying she couldn’t get down from the apartment and that her life was in God’s hands. Ahmed went on to ask her mother to pray for her while saying a tearful goodbye.
Although her friends believed she was gone, it turns out a firefighter found Ahmed lying unconscious on the 18th floor where she had attempted to escape the fire with some of her neighbors. She had been overpowered by the thick smoke and couldn’t continue.
As reported by the Evening Standard, the first responder was able to carry Ahmed out of the building and she was taken to a nearby hospital where she is still recovering from severe smoke inhalation from the fire.
Woman feared dead in the Grenfell Tower fire turns up alive in hospital https://t.co/1SBQnuPQQO pic.twitter.com/iGxJ07sTfh
— Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) June 23, 2017
The family won’t leave Ahmed’s bedside
Ahmed’s mother said they all cried when they received the final call from her daughter, telling them goodbye.
It was reportedly two hours after they received that call that Ahmed’s sister saw her being placed in an ambulance.
Ahmed’s mother added that the firefighter who rescued her from the fire was a hero for saving her life. Without him, she said Ahmed would never have escaped Grenfell Tower. The family has been by Ahmed’s bedside ever since she was admitted to the hospital and did not realize her friends had posted the missing person poster for her daughter, believing she had died in the fire.
The mother went to say how happy they are she survived the incident, as when they saw just how bad the fire became, while knowing she was inside the building, it was awful for the family. They didn’t believe anyone would be able to escape the inferno alive.
Deadliest fire in U.K. history
The Grenfell Tower fire is thought to be the deadliest in U.K. history and ended with 79 residents of the building missing and presumed dead. According to a report by the BBC, the original source of the blaze was a faulty fridge freezer.
This is the make and model of fridge-freezer that sparked the Grenfell Tower fire. A Hotpoint FF175BP that has no history of fire issues. pic.twitter.com/PKqFz7PvEe
— Richard Suchet (@RichSuchet) June 23, 2017
However, it was faulty cladding – used to upgrade the appearance of the building – that turned out to be responsible for the fire being so deadly.
Police say the speed with which the blaze spread through the building was totally “unexpected.”
Police are now considering criminal charges against those involved in refurbishing the building with the faulty cladding, including charges of manslaughter. Concerns are now being raised as at least 600 buildings in the U.K. have been refurbished with the same material.
People say "I can't sleep" - MP David Lammy's heard from residents in flats with same cladding as #GrenfellTower https://t.co/2dOKMlqczy pic.twitter.com/uE099Q10cq
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 22, 2017