Emotional tribute presentation for the Belkadi family (Omar, Farah, Malak, and baby Leena) who lived in Flat 175 on the 20th floor. Only six-year-old Tasmine survived.
00:00:28 yes just a minute thank you mr chairman members of the panel i would now invite miss alison monroe queen's council please to come back to the podium to make the presentation
00:00:40 to make the presentation on behalf of farah hamdan omobel
00:00:47 all from flat 175 on floor 20. before i do may i report repeat the trigger warning which is that during the course of this presentation there may be
00:00:58 course of this presentation there may be things said or shown which are distressing to those either in the room or on the live stream and so those who wish to leave now or to look away should do so
00:01:07 do so subject to that thank you very much yes thank you
00:01:25 okay
00:01:57 yes it's one room thank you
00:02:01 what makes a family families come in all shapes and sizes and permutations two parents two children two parents no children
00:02:13 two parents no children two adults whatever makes you happy makes your family
00:02:21 for omar belkadi his family was just right omar and pharah were perfect for each other
00:02:31 other they were a young vibrant couple they loved each other so much he was a protective loving father
00:02:42 loving father he wanted his family to be happy and well cared for vara was a devoted mother and she loved her little girls more than life itself
00:02:54 more than life itself a devoted husband a loving wife and mother and three beautiful children
00:03:02 malak
00:03:07 life was good
00:03:10 but in one horrible night this family was decimated the family was no more and only one person remained
00:03:25 farah's sister samira who is with us today
00:03:29 today remembers her family and she remembers her sister as being everything to me she was kind intelligent and always sought new experiences
00:03:41 and always sought new experiences in any way she could she had a great sense of humor and had the best one-liners she loved all things historical
00:03:52 samira remembers farah being born she was more than a little sister to me omar
00:04:02 omar well he was funny and he was positive he knew how to cheer people up surrounding him his warm and big smile would light up the whole room
00:04:13 the whole room his love for his wife and his three girls was endless kind patient and selfless and always very neat and organized and he could cook for his daughters and
00:04:25 and he could cook for his daughters and would make the best milkshakes ever he would share his recipes from his mother and his siblings he was a person who always loved to have
00:04:36 he was a person who always loved to have other people surrounding him but particularly his family his friends his neighbors as a young man omar developed a strong love for cars spending all his free time
00:04:49 love for cars spending all his free time cleaning and maintaining the condition of his car he was studying to be a taxi driver in the uk
00:04:56 the uk school was never an issue because he was always very efficient and passed exams effortlessly
00:05:05 he was sociable he was ambitious his love of cars extended so much that he liked any type of car any size of engine he would tell you about models
00:05:16 engine he would tell you about models make
00:05:18 make this made no sense to pharah or any of us
00:05:21 us but to him it made perfect sense because he loved his cars so much
00:05:28 malach
00:05:31 8 years old but already smart and caring she was able to easily get on with people of all ages and would have conversations that were
00:05:42 and would have conversations that were far more intelligent than a child of her age
00:05:48 samira remembers when she was born and then beautiful baby lena she brought so much joy to the family
00:05:59 she brought so much joy to the family and completed the family
00:06:03 they lived in flat 175 on the 20th floor that was the same floor as khadija and mary the belkaji family took up their council
00:06:15 the belkaji family took up their council tenancy on the 8th of november 2013.
00:06:22 turning then to the events of that fateful june in 2017. on the 13th cctv footage shows pharah in the lift
00:06:36 cctv footage shows pharah in the lift lobby at 18 31 59
00:06:41 59 we see her waiting and then the lift comes she goes in and goes up in the building
00:06:50 malak is with her and little baby lena is in a sling attached to her mother
00:06:59 at 12 minutes past midnight the cctv footage in the left lobby area shows omar approaching the lift
00:07:14 those were the last sightings of pharah
00:07:19 of pharah omar and lena alive
00:07:25 we've heard in the presentations this morning about the other residents on that floor floor 20 we've heard how some were able despite the conditions
00:07:38 were able despite the conditions and in some instances such as emma o'connor despite disabilities able to self-evacuate and leave safely
00:07:49 able to self-evacuate and leave safely however
00:07:51 however we know
00:07:52 we know that certain families did not and one of those families was in 175 we've also heard this morning and earlier in jessica's
00:08:05 this morning and earlier in jessica's presentation evidence in relation to those firefighters
00:08:11 dogu and cm secret who as a team attempted unsuccessfully to rescue jessica in her flat 176.
00:08:24 the firefighters described horrendous conditions cm secret
00:08:31 cm secret and firefighter bizillo both heard their alarms go off and knew the air was running low
00:08:39 in evidence firefighter bradillo was asked did you knock on the doors the other doors or shout to anyone who might be in flat 175
00:08:51 flat 175 his answer was no around the time that those three fire fighters were on floor 20 attempting to find jessica
00:09:04 floor 20 attempting to find jessica farah called her sister samira to tell her there was a fire in grenfell tower
00:09:10 tower further down the building samira told her she should come and stay with her if she had to leave the if she had to leave the building at that stage she had no reason to
00:09:22 at that stage she had no reason to believe she wouldn't be seeing her sister again or the extent of the fire
00:09:29 things rapidly change whilst firefighters bedillo dogu and secret are still on the 20th floor pharah makes her first nine-nine call
00:09:42 pharah makes her first nine-nine call which is answered by om norman this is at 132 and it lasted for two minutes and 40 seconds this is what she tells the operator
00:09:53 this is what she tells the operator there is smoke coming into the flat she told her that the flat she must leave unless it's she must stay unless it's unsafe to do so
00:10:05 unless it's unsafe to do so pharah says she doesn't know what the conditions are like in the stairwell she tells them that there's her her husband and three children one of whom is a baby
00:10:18 whom is a baby pharah is told not to open the windows because
00:10:22 because it could be coming up on the outside of the building and to call back if things become worse the information received by um norman
00:10:33 the information received by um norman from farah's first call is passed on to cu 8.
00:10:40 cm norman says that she stated that there were five people trapped in flat 175 however she did not relay the fact that three were children and one was a baby
00:10:54 three were children and one was a baby which should have made them rescue priorities
00:11:01 the message being passed to cu-8 is recorded as being done at 1 35 this call was the first contact from a cro to the incident ground
00:11:13 cro to the incident ground at 01 35 44 a second call is recorded where pharah is connected to nottingham fire service and is waiting to be put through to
00:11:24 and is waiting to be put through to london
00:11:25 london she can be heard trying to keep the family calm and ask malak to stay calm this call lasts 13 minutes and 29 seconds
00:11:37 minutes and 29 seconds at 01 43 14 it appears to be that this call is when pharah is finally connected to london from nottingham but in fact she is connected to the
00:11:50 but in fact she is connected to the north west fire control center farad nonetheless tells the handler natalie pomponi that she is on the 20th floor and there is flyer below and she
00:12:02 floor and there is flyer below and she asks what shall i do
00:12:06 when asked whether she can get out she says i cannot get out and that she is with her husband and three children including a baby the call handler says they are trying to pass the information onto cruz
00:12:19 pass the information onto cruz pharah says her husband wants to leave but there is black smoke in the hallway she states that they have closed all the doors and windows but the smoke is still coming in
00:12:31 coming in the call handler advises her to stay away from the door and that the fire service know where they are and that there are five of them and there are making their way to them she is told to call back if she needs to
00:12:47 o m norman took a call from team leader paula craig at northwest fire control on the critical line phone
00:12:58 fire control on the critical line phone that was the first time that the north west
00:13:00 west fire and rescue service had made contact with the control room since taking their very first call at 0136
00:13:11 0136 she relayed that flat 175 had five people
00:13:15 people but did not set out the conditions nor was she asked the message was recorded in the incident log by om norman at 201
00:13:26 log by om norman at 201 this fsg information was then passed to the incident ground
00:13:31 at 1.4744
00:13:35 the conditions in the lobby described by pharah resulted in her family being unable to leave and this is confirmed by the message that we heard this morning from khadija
00:13:46 that we heard this morning from khadija on facebook in relation to the extent of the smoke
00:13:53 at 2 am farah and samira speak again
00:14:00 faris says that they've been told to stay
00:14:03 stay where they are by the 999 operators
00:14:11 it is about this time that a crew from wilson fire station are preparing to ascend the tower that crew is made up of angel fernandez vincent williams tom
00:14:22 angel fernandez vincent williams tom welsh and craig eden the telemetry times show that they go under air at about two o'clock oh 200 hours
00:14:31 hours for angel fernandez and vincent williams and tom welsh and craig eden at 01 59 42.
00:14:41 42. in terms of when their a they go out and come back that's not recorded except for cm eden
00:14:49 cm eden and we see the time is o2 2903 so almost exactly half an hour from their evidence both their written evidence sir and the
00:15:01 both their written evidence sir and the evidence they gave to this inquiry in phase one
00:15:05 phase one it's clear that the scene and the situation was confused and chaotic
00:15:15 cm eden in his statement says this about the briefing by watch manager o'keefe the bridgehead seemed chaotic with lots of people inside there were three or
00:15:27 of people inside there were three or four ba boards on the left and there were lots of things going on talking and radio messages but everyone seemed to know what they were doing i saw a station manager and a couple of other
00:15:38 station manager and a couple of other officers who had white helmets on and there were a couple of firefighters donning up watch manager o'keefe who i think was stationed at kensington gave us our brief
00:15:49 brief he said that a ba team was required to go to the 20th floor and tell the bridgehead what they could see and find i asked him to repeat the briefing as it
00:16:00 i asked him to repeat the briefing as it was not the standard brief you would normally receive for a high-rise building
00:16:05 building normally i would expect to receive more information such as where the fire was what room
00:16:11 what room how many people are trapped how many flats there are on the floor etc it's normally quite specific i did turn around to tom welsh and say
00:16:22 i did turn around to tom welsh and say what sort of briefing is that but i accepted what was said instead of challenging it due to the situation and circumstances but i felt like we were being sent up to the 20th floor to complete a recce i
00:16:36 the 20th floor to complete a recce i think someone had sent up being sent up to the 20th floor before us but still knew very little about grenfell tower itself
00:16:45 itself tom welch who's with him says that he was in his ba gear and told that he was needed at the bridgehead there he was briefed by a watch manager with an irish
00:16:56 briefed by a watch manager with an irish accent
00:16:57 accent who said go to the 20th floor and see what you can find at no point during this task was i told that people were trapped or needed
00:17:08 that people were trapped or needed rescuing so i assumed the building had been evacuated so it was on that basis that these two firefighters
00:17:19 firefighters ascended the tower
00:17:23 they started to make their way to the stairwell
00:17:27 stairwell to go back down to the bridgehead but heard firefighters angel fernandez from chizik asking for his assistance with casualties on the 20th
00:17:38 assistance with casualties on the 20th floor
00:17:41 tom welsh
00:17:44 continues on the walkway there was a queue of firefighters and pairs in their ba sets waiting to enter the bridgehead and be briefed on their tasks
00:17:55 briefed on their tasks i was paired up with craig eden i joined the queue
00:17:59 the queue we then turned right from the walkway into a lobby area which was the bridgehead itself and the entry compact control point the visibility in this area was completely clear
00:18:11 completely clear we were briefed by watch manager name i do not know the briefing was to go to the 20th floor and see what we could find i found this briefing to be unusual and
00:18:22 i found this briefing to be unusual and slightly vague a normal briefing at this kind of incident would contain details of a specific task but my adrenaline was pumping at this point as i knew there was a big fire i
00:18:34 point as i knew there was a big fire i wanted to get in as quickly as possible and assist in bringing the incident to an end
00:18:40 an end during the briefing i asked if it was
00:18:43 if it was we were using the fire lift or the stairs i was told to use the stairs
00:18:52 firefighter fernandez says of his briefing firefighter williams and i were next to be briefed by watch manager de silva
00:19:04 be briefed by watch manager de silva she told us to go to the 20th floor and to attend flat 175 and conduct search and rescue there were no specifics on how many casualties we might find
00:19:16 casualties we might find no descriptions or ages
00:19:20 this brief would have been marked on a board at entry control
00:19:29 remember pharah's first 999 call where she had said at 0-1 47 there are five of us that's me
00:19:40 at 0-1 47 there are five of us that's me my husband three children a baby as well
00:19:47 pharah continues to make further calls 020707
00:19:53 one can hear in the background her speaking to her daughters telling them cover your mouth girls and then at 0208 48 it appears that pharah has been
00:20:04 it appears that pharah has been connected to cro fox
00:20:09 at 2 11 42 further a caller bara
00:20:16 bara it's noted baby and two young children are in the flat flat 175 20th floor the caller reports fire in the flat
00:20:27 the caller reports fire in the flat below
00:20:29 below my flat is getting really smoky now i've already put sheets under the front door to stop the smoke my husband and three children there's a baby and two kids in the flat the
00:20:42 baby and two kids in the flat the operator asks and says we've told them on the radio and they should be coming soon caller i've been waiting a while now operator advises to use wet sheets and
00:20:54 operator advises to use wet sheets and ring back if the situation gets worse
00:20:59 meanwhile samira has phoned again 0210
00:21:06 her sister pharis has told her that they were ready to leave and she had tied lena in a sling to herself and the girls were with her
00:21:20 the transcript of the call appears to state that the call started at 02 11 and that pharah had said the flat was getting really smoky
00:21:31 getting really smoky she explains that she had already blocked the doors to keep the smoke out because she was advised to do this again cro fox states the information had been passed to cruz and to call back if she
00:21:43 passed to cruz and to call back if she needs to be any further help that was the end of that conversation at 0217
00:21:52 at 0217 pharah makes her final emergency call
00:21:57 it does not appear to ever been connected but we can hear farah say malek it's not safe the call lasts for one minute and 19
00:22:08 the call lasts for one minute and 19 seconds
00:22:12 further firefighter deployments paddington crew are also deployed firefighters mills and campbell were deployed in response to an fsg call
00:22:25 were deployed in response to an fsg call about flat 175 firefighter campbell says in his statement that they were briefed by watch manager o'keefe quote he instructed us that there was a
00:22:37 quote he instructed us that there was a fire survival call from that flat 175 on the 20th floor we weren't told anything about the condition of the fire at that stage but we were wearing breathing apparatus
00:22:51 we were wearing breathing apparatus firefighter stephen mills says our intention was to get to the 20th floor set in which means putting the 42 into the dry riser
00:23:02 the 42 into the dry riser charging it and checking the branch and then we would make entry into the flat however they started to run low on air and went down again at which time
00:23:14 at which time they'd passed another crew consisting of firefighter wrigley harris gilliam and gonzalez who told them that they had been tasked
00:23:25 who told them that they had been tasked to go to the roof so you may recall we've been we've heard about that particular crew on a number of occasions now
00:23:34 unfortunately firefighters mill and campbell only managed to get as far as a 14th floor when they had to abandon their tasks as they were so low on air and made to
00:23:45 they were so low on air and made to they made the informed decision that they would not be able to reach the 20th floor and carry out a search and rescue for pharah and her family
00:23:57 they both tried unsuccessfully to contact the bridgehead via their radios firefighter mills in his statement says he tried to contact the bridgehead and the ba entry control but the radio
00:24:09 the ba entry control but the radio communications simply did not work he says the radio communications were dreadful
00:24:17 dreadful on the way down they came across a paddington crew again and informed them of their failed mission to flat 175 on the 20th floor
00:24:30 conditioned on the 20th floor
00:24:35 by now firefighter tom welch and siam eden
00:24:40 were still waiting to be deployed up this up the tower he passed cm secret someone he knew and he said this as i was preparing to carry out my task
00:24:53 as i was preparing to carry out my task i saw my colleague chris secret a person who i consider one of my best friends in the fire service he passed by me on the stairs and he was taking his breathing apparatus off he
00:25:05 taking his breathing apparatus off he looked flustered and he had sweat dripping from him he said to me go easy up there it's mental at that moment i thought to myself if this person who has 17 or 18
00:25:19 myself if this person who has 17 or 18 years experience as a firefighter a person who i look up to in my first years as a firefighter and who i have full confidence in his ability looks
00:25:30 full confidence in his ability looks flustered then these conditions must be very serious indeed
00:25:40 as they ascend cm eden
00:25:44 cm eden notes the smoke was blacker thicker and denser and i literally couldn't see an inch in front of my face black smoke tends to mean that materials such as plastic and textiles are burning
00:25:57 such as plastic and textiles are burning we stopped and we were deciding what to do next as i had about a hundred bars left at this point we just were discussing whether to go to the other side of the lobby to knock on
00:26:09 the other side of the lobby to knock on the door or if we should go back down and try to send a message to the bridgehead to update them but it appeared that neither our radios were working and i assumed that this was
00:26:20 were working and i assumed that this was due to interference between the floors we decided that we should turn around and go back down when another crew came onto the 20th floor at that time i
00:26:32 onto the 20th floor at that time i didn't know who they were but now i know they were firefighters aggie fernandez who was one of my normal crew members but had gone to another station that night on standby
00:26:45 now that there were more of them an attempt was made to find flat 175
00:26:53 cm eden and firefighter welsh had arrived on the 20th floor slightly before firefighters hernandez and williams
00:27:03 but they were literally scrambling on all fours on the floor
00:27:12 angel hernandez says the smoke was becoming thicker lights went out somewhere between the second and the fifth floor visibility was almost zero we struggled to see
00:27:25 was almost zero we struggled to see floor numbers torches started to fail we saw that we were on the 14th and smoke was very thick visibility almost zero we ascended further the smoke
00:27:36 zero we ascended further the smoke intensifies the temperature starts to rise
00:27:39 rise we reach the 20th floor intense smoke and visibility effectively at zero
00:27:46 at zero he hears the voices of cm welsh and firefighter eden who had also been sent up they were now calling to each other the door to the lobby was closed
00:27:59 the door to the lobby was closed we crawled on our hands and knees to the left
00:28:02 left and i started to search for the door numbers i was looking for flat 175 the door numbers were approximately letterbox height but they could only be seen by looking
00:28:13 but they could only be seen by looking very closely at them due to the smoke i got down on my knees and using my hands i was able to identify a letterbox i shouted through the letterbox and
00:28:24 i shouted through the letterbox and banged the door there was no reply firefighter williams and i realized there was not this was not flat 175 we were a few doors away i cannot remember the door number at that stage
00:28:37 remember the door number at that stage we moved along to the next two doors and again shouted through the letterboxes all the doors were shut and there was no reply from any of these doors maintaining contact with firefighter
00:28:48 maintaining contact with firefighter williams we passed the lift firefighter williams was ahead of me and he identified flat 175 we shouted through the letterbox and received a response
00:28:58 response i think the door was opened from inside we shouted casualty i shouted to both firefighters welsh and eden that there is a casualty
00:29:11 when the door was opened smoke bellowed into the flat there was a gentleman they say standing at the door in a state of high panic
00:29:23 at the door in a state of high panic that was omar he was running backwards and forwards in the corridor shouting and saying i've got kids i've got kids i've got kids
00:29:36 fire fighter william said yeah okay and followed him in they went in they found the rest of the family the outside of the building wasn't visible
00:29:47 visible so they couldn't see if any of the windows were opened or if there was fire coming in or anything of that nature but they found him they found pharah and
00:29:58 but they found him they found pharah and roughly at the same time they saw some girls he wasn't sure of their ages but based on their height he thought that perhaps they were 10 11 six seven or eight years of age
00:30:10 six seven or eight years of age they all looked panicked and scared and not knowing what to do
00:30:16 they didn't really say a lot but the woman kept saying my babies my babies my babies
00:30:23 babies she said this repeatedly with her arms out i said do you have a baby i was unsure whether she was saying that because she had a baby somewhere else whether she was calling her girls her
00:30:34 whether she was calling her girls her babies i looked around and i couldn't actually physically see a baby anywhere i'm sure if there was a baby there it was going to make it obvious they would be carrying the baby
00:30:46 they would be carrying the baby fire fighter williams then says that they tried to have a conversation about getting
00:30:52 getting out of the house i said we've got to go we've got to go now get something on your face put it on your face
00:30:59 your face visibility was now getting very tough indeed
00:31:03 indeed he tried to rationalize what was going to happen next but what do you do because there are only a few of us there to help and we were already low on air
00:31:14 and we were already low on air so should we go anyway and they needed to get out now if they were to have any chance of surviving they seem to be scared stiff and they
00:31:26 they seem to be scared stiff and they froze
00:31:28 froze he understands why the family was so hesitant because of the thick black smoke
00:31:38 they had been told that the fire brigade are coming to help them and we turn up with nothing to give them to protect them
00:31:45 them this is firefighter williams there were no fire hoods or something like that and i'm just asking them to go through that smoke out in the corridor and down the stairs
00:31:54 stairs so i can understand why they were so hesitant and frozen and didn't want to move
00:32:02 still pharah was saying my babies my babies my babies
00:32:09 firefighter williams grabbed the youngest child he could find he picked her up and said we've got to go let's go
00:32:20 go let's go i just started making my way out of the door by doing so the other daughter came along as well and everyone started to come i thought great we are moving now i told aggie
00:32:31 great we are moving now i told aggie we're going we're going i got the younger girl i shouted to the other crew members that the family were behind me but they need help i had the youngest girl and i made my way to the stairwell
00:32:45 firefighter williams came towards the door
00:32:48 door which he'd been holding open and he was carrying a small child i know this to be a small child because she was approximately six years old and she had dark hair
00:32:59 he says i realized that it was imperative that we've got to get the child down the stairs as quickly as possible due to the amount of smoke in the building i took to the stairs i wrapped my left
00:33:12 i took to the stairs i wrapped my left arm around the handrail and started to descend backwards as we start to descend the staircase firefighter williams passed me the child i took hold of the
00:33:24 passed me the child i took hold of the child in my right arm she was quite light in weight so i was able to carry her on my own i kept my left arm around the staircase handrail using it as a guide
00:33:36 handrail using it as a guide the child was throwing her arms and leg around and she was screaming we know that this child was tasmine the sole survivor of the family
00:33:48 firefighter williams continues that they made their way down the stairs but they couldn't see exactly where they were going as soon as they walked into the
00:33:59 as soon as they walked into the stairwell there was heavy smoke and it became worse and worse visibility was almost zero and now it was getting very hot
00:34:08 very hot he says
00:34:09 he says christ
00:34:11 christ i'm taking her into this environment but there was nowhere else to go and i know she hasn't got anything else to protect her it was just a matter of getting her down and out as quickly as possible
00:34:22 possible 20 floors is a long way to go in this smoke with nothing protecting you and the heat
00:34:29 the heat we started flying down the stairs aggie was with us as well i just hugged the inside of their stairwell and just kept going and going and going
00:34:40 i didn't think that aggie needed help with the other girl so we were going down as a team in my head i had it that he and the other crew would have picked up the old girl and i
00:34:51 would have picked up the old girl and i don't know really i don't know what happened to her once we went into zero visibility it's very difficult to know what the other crew were doing they managed to get down to about the
00:35:03 they managed to get down to about the 17th or 18th floor and then things became quite difficult he was really struggling his legs started to go the heat was getting to him
00:35:14 him at that point he says i thought
00:35:18 i thought if the conditions get any worse then i wasn't sure i was going to make it down but the adrenaline adrenaline pumps around you and you keep going i kept going in the hope that i would get into
00:35:29 going in the hope that i would get into better conditions and i did it just started to ease a little bit but it was still hot but i just kept going i don't think too many people went above the 14th floor after we got down as the heat
00:35:42 14th floor after we got down as the heat layer was just too much i felt myself overheating and suffering a bit of heat exhaustion there is only one way out so i had to keep moving i wanted to stop but that
00:35:54 keep moving i wanted to stop but that wasn't really an option so i kept pushing on and going down the stairs i think i covered nine or ten floors and i was really starting to struggle so i shouted to aggie can you take her for a bit i
00:36:07 aggie can you take her for a bit i passed her to aggie around the second or third floor
00:36:13 aggie fernando said he took tasmine but he could still hear the woman shouting my baby as we started to descend the staircase it was
00:36:23 it was definitely hotter than we had had when we climbed up i could hear screams for help from other people
00:36:31 people i was unable to help them my priority was to get this small child to safety at the bottom and i knew i was running low on oxygen myself
00:36:46 fire fighter fernandez
00:36:50 fernandez was able to get tasmine down to the bottom
00:36:55 bottom but he said this the incident with this child troubled me for days after the event i was relieved to find out that she'd survived
00:37:06 survived i'd seen her name written in news reports i can't remember it but i'm pleased she survived
00:37:16 so tasmine was out but what are the rest of her family omar
00:37:24 omar siam eden primarily was involved with firefighter welsh to rescue omar they were bringing him down together they were making progress but as they
00:37:36 they were making progress but as they brought him down the stairs omar collapsed he slid along the wall and onto the floor of the stairwell tom welsh fell on top of him and hurt
00:37:47 tom welsh fell on top of him and hurt his leg
00:37:48 his leg but they continued to try and carry him down but now it was getting very difficult they were low on air and eventually cm eden stated they that they should leave
00:37:59 should leave but firefighter welsh would not leave omar on the stairs as a compromise cm eden said that he would go and look for other firefighters to help a few floors below
00:38:12 a few floors below then
00:38:13 then he ran out of air because it was so low firefighter welsh stayed with omar and tried to save omar who quickly fell
00:38:24 and tried to save omar who quickly fell into unconsciousness on entering the staircase
00:38:27 staircase soon after they had left the lobby of the 20th floor
00:38:33 floor he was later found deceased in the stairwell between the 19th and the 20th floor
00:38:39 floor close by with pharah and lena
00:38:45 cctv footage from the base of the tower shows tasmine and indeed malak being carried out of the tower
00:38:56 out of the tower at 02 29
00:38:59 at 02 29 tasman is being carried out of the stairwell into the foyer by a firefighter at 027
00:39:09 at 027 she's being seen carried out of the building itself at 0-229 she's carried out of the main entrance by the lfb
00:39:21 entrance by the lfb at 0-3-10
00:39:24 at 0-3-10 malach is carried down the stairway by a firefighter
00:39:32 she's then seen being carried through the foyer towards the community room by
00:39:39 by cm ash
00:39:43 cm ash the firefighters who brought malak down were fire fighters jonathan saunders from soho fire station he had passed the ninth floor when he was handed a girl by another firefighter
00:39:56 was handed a girl by another firefighter who came running down the stairs he thinks that this must have been malach
00:40:03 malach who later died in hospital of her injuries
00:40:08 he thinks it only took him a few minutes to get her down and then he handed her to other firefighters
00:40:19 malik was taken to hospital to the pediatric intensive care unit
00:40:28 following out of hospital cardiac arrest secondary to smoke inhalation with hypoxia
00:40:36 the lfb had commenced cpr while she was still at the tower and then that was continued by the london ambulance service at the scene before she was transferred to the
00:40:48 before she was transferred to the hospital for further management she did return to some spontaneous circulation at 0341 so the full duration of cardiac arrest
00:41:00 so the full duration of cardiac arrest is unknown
00:41:05 full life-sustaining care was commenced neurological examinations were undertaken at presentation she demonstrated fixed
00:41:17 at presentation she demonstrated fixed and dilated pupils with no cough or gag reflexes
00:41:22 reflexes also from the neurological point she was unconscious throughout on the 15th of june 2017
00:41:33 june 2017 treatment was given to reduce swelling of her brain following prolonged periods of lack of blood and oxygen suspected brain stem death was confirmed after testing
00:41:44 after testing she had been confirmed brain dead at 1501.
00:41:50 life sustaining support was discontinued and malach was pronounced dead at 200 hours
00:41:59 for the extended family the hours after malach and tasmine were taken from the tower were nothing short of horrendous there was chaos and misinformation
00:42:15 for those of the family in london it was near on impossible to get accurate and consistent information for those who lived abroad including omar's brother
00:42:26 omar's brother sister and his parents it was non-existent indeed omar's family did not know what had happened nor if omar and his family had survived
00:42:39 nor if omar and his family had survived they had to rely on information relayed from family in london who themselves were thrown into confusion whilst experiencing shock
00:42:52 fara's postmortem was conducted by dr randall
00:42:56 randall and the medical cause of death was inhalation of fire fumes omar
00:43:04 omar post-mortem was conducted by dr swift who gave the same medical cause of death malek's postmortem report was conducted by dr figano and is dated the 5th of
00:43:17 by dr figano and is dated the 5th of september 2018. he states that the chemical analysis demonstrated an elevated level of xx at 40 to 45
00:43:30 of xx at 40 to 45 which in his opinion would have been significantly depressed oxygen supply to the tissues resulting in cardiac arrest it was also entirely possible that other gases which are not routinely detected
00:43:43 gases which are not routinely detected were present such as sulfur dioxide and cyanide
00:43:47 cyanide not to mention the relative anoxic conditions that would be present in a fire
00:43:52 fire he also notes that the toxological report analysis shows a sample taken five hours post into incident during which she was in an oxygen enriched environment
00:44:04 oxygen enriched environment this would have led to a significant reduction in carbon monoxide and this is a level at ten percent which simply represents a post-treatment level
00:44:16 level the report found the same medical cause of death for malac
00:44:21 lena's report was conducted jointly by dr nat carey and dr lena palmer on the 12th of june 2018.
00:44:32 medical cause of death results from toxological reports provide very strong evidence that inhalation of fire fumes was a principal cause of death and therefore the same
00:44:45 and therefore the same medical cause of death was recorded
00:44:54 so may we have a break a short break at this point yes of course it may how long would you like initially could have perhaps 15 minutes please yes very well it will rise and we'll miss it again at office 4. thank
00:45:06 we'll miss it again at office 4. thank you
01:13:04 yes mr andrew when you're ready sir thank you very much for the time
01:13:14 pharah and omar as the loving parents that they were had in their minds throughout that night from the very first to the very last
01:13:25 from the very first to the very last their children their babies
01:13:29 they did as they were advised they followed the instructions believing there was a plan that would see the whole family successfully
01:13:40 successfully leave that tower that night
01:13:46 for farah's sister samira today marks 61 months since she lost her family a beautiful sister and the ideal brother-in-law
01:14:00 the passage of time has been swift malach would be 13 now
01:14:09 the same hospital where samira watched her niece enter this world was a hospital where she watched her leave this world
01:14:20 baby lena would be five well past her toddler years speaking talking getting into trouble by now
01:14:30 now that night she was just six months old she left this world still clean to her mother who had brought her into this world
01:14:39 world for samira her family are more than their names and where they lived and what happened to them that night she says this
01:14:50 they were a massive presence in our lives
01:14:53 lives we love them and dearly miss them their senseless deaths have impacted and left a huge void in all our lives after 61 months
01:15:05 after 61 months we and they at the very least deserve accountability change and justice for omar's brother mustafa he was
01:15:16 for omar's brother mustafa he was someone special i was very lucky to have him in my life he was such a joyful loving caring person a protector he always made me feel loved
01:15:27 he always made me feel loved it is unbearably painful but he's not with me anymore life isn't sweet as it was when he was around
01:15:36 around there is not a day goes by when i do not think of him wherever i go i remember the times he was there
01:15:45 was there i have such beautiful memories of him sitting next to me in that car while cruising around and thinking to myself how cool is my brother i've always wanted to be like him
01:15:58 i've always wanted to be like him my brother my best friend you are forever alive in my heart and for amma omar's sister sergio
01:16:07 sergio she simply says this you were gone too soon the way you died is a nightmare that will accompany us forever your death is unforgivable my little
01:16:18 your death is unforgivable my little brother i miss you
01:16:24 at the start of this presentation sir i pose the question what makes a family
01:16:31 tasman balcardi was the sole survivor of flat 175
01:16:36 flat 175 she lost that family i described at the beginning of this presentation she lost her mother her father her older sister her baby sister
01:16:47 her older sister her baby sister the family of five was reduced to just one
01:16:52 one but she survived and she thrives because
01:16:56 because she found in the loving protective embrace of her aunts and uncles a new family
01:17:03 family to call her own thank you
01:17:57 thank you very much miss monroe and that concludes the work of the inquiry for today we shall not be sitting on monday of next week
01:18:07 next week but we shall sit again on tuesday morning at 10 o'clock to hear further presentations thank you all very much 10 o'clock on tuesday please
01:18:35 you