Presentations honoring and remembering those who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire, sharing their stories and the impact of their loss on families and communities.
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00:00:00 Yes, Mr Millett.
00:00:28 Yes, Mr Chairman.
00:00:29 I would now invite Mr Imran Khan, Queen's Council, please to come to the podium and
00:00:34 make the presentation on behalf of Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuku Ahmedin, Mohammed Nur Tuku and
00:00:43 Amla Mahmoud Idris from flat 166 on floor 19 of Granfell Tower.
00:00:50 As before, I would issue another trigger warning that there may be material or matters discussed
00:00:54 in Mr Khan's presentation, which people might find distressing.
00:00:58 If so, they are free to leave the room here or to look away from the live stream as the
00:01:02 case may be.
00:01:03 Thank you very much.
00:01:04 Mr Khan, thank you.
00:01:05 Yes, Mr Khan.
00:01:24 Good afternoon, sir, panel members.
00:01:54 To lose one member of your family is undoubtedly a great loss.
00:02:02 To lose four is a tragedy beyond measure and it is therefore with a heavy heart that I
00:02:10 make this presentation today about a beloved wife and a family of three who died on the
00:02:18 14th of June 2017.
00:02:22 The pain of reliving those moments is so unbearable that none of the family who survived are able
00:02:30 to attend today.
00:02:32 It is simply too painful for them.
00:02:36 And so you'll see that the chairs which would have been occupied by the family members,
00:02:43 no one is sitting there.
00:02:46 The photos that we saw, just saw, are of Mohammed Noor Tuku, the brother of Ibrahim Tuku.
00:02:56 They also showed his partner Amal Ahmadine and their three-year-old daughter Amaya Tuku
00:03:02 Ahmadine.
00:03:05 They lived at flat 166 Grenfell Tower on the 19th floor.
00:03:11 The photos we saw also showed Amna Mahmood Idris.
00:03:17 She was the wife of Ibrahim Abdul Karim.
00:03:22 Amna Idris was not a resident of the tower.
00:03:26 She arrived at the tower in the afternoon of the 13th of June to visit her cousin Amal.
00:03:35 And here you will recall, and I invite the panel members to re-listen and re-read, or
00:03:43 certainly read the commemoration hearing of the 24th of May when Amal's nieces, Feroza
00:03:48 and Winter talked about the joy that Amal and her daughter Amaya brought to their family.
00:03:55 You will also recall the words delivered by Mohammed Noor's brother Ibrahim who spoke
00:04:00 about the kind and loving character of Mohammed Noor.
00:04:04 Amna's husband Ibrahim Abdul Karim also spoke at the hearing, painting a picture of Amna's
00:04:12 life and the love he had for her.
00:04:16 Amal was born on the 1st of November 1982 in Sudan.
00:04:23 She was 35 years old when she died on the 14th of June.
00:04:28 Amal's father died when she was very young and it was difficult for her mother to manage
00:04:33 her alone, so Amal lived with her elder sister in Eritrea.
00:04:40 Amal shared a bedroom with her nieces Winter and Feroza, who she quickly came to know as
00:04:47 her little sisters.
00:04:50 And when they had nightmares, when they sometimes did, Amal hugged them tight to squeeze the
00:04:57 nightmares away.
00:05:00 She cared for them and they looked up to her.
00:05:04 Amal joined with her sister's family as they moved home from Eritrea to Ethiopia, then
00:05:11 to Italy and finally to the UK where they made their home.
00:05:17 Amal loved to laugh and surrounded herself with positive people.
00:05:22 She did not judge others and she would help anyone regardless of their background.
00:05:29 She learned remarkably five languages so that she would be able to communicate with as many
00:05:34 people as possible and because she liked making new friends.
00:05:42 Remembering her sister, Feroza said, she taught me how precious life was.
00:05:50 What Amal loved more than anything was her daughter Amaya.
00:05:54 When Amal became pregnant with Amaya, it filled the family with joy.
00:06:00 Amaya was born on the 25th of February 2014.
00:06:06 She was just three years old when she died on the 14th of June 2017.
00:06:14 Amaya loved music, singing and dancing, which we can clearly see in the photographs earlier.
00:06:24 We saw photographs of the party that her parents held for her at Grenfell Tower for her third
00:06:31 birthday.
00:06:33 That photo was just four months before the events of the 14th of June.
00:06:40 I'm told that her laugh was infectious.
00:06:44 Her family have described how her whole body would shake and she would jump up and down.
00:06:50 They remember her affectionately as a smart and somewhat cheeky child who took after her mother.
00:06:58 They reveled watching her personality shine and develop.
00:07:04 They were excited to see how she would grow up.
00:07:08 Amaya's aunt, Winter, has told the Inquiry that she held Amaya close to soothe her to sleep,
00:07:15 like the way Amal held her when she was a child.
00:07:19 And I quote Winter who told the Inquiry, quote,
00:07:23 That's how they were when they were being burnt alive,
00:07:27 holding each other so tight, trying to squeeze the nightmares away.
00:07:36 Amna was born on the 1st of January, 1919 in Eritrea.
00:07:41 She was 27 when she died on the 14th of June, 2017.
00:07:47 Amna moved to the UK in March 2016, just one year before the fire, to join her husband
00:07:53 of four years, Ibrahim Abdul Karim.
00:07:58 She is dearly missed by her husband who has told the Inquiry, quote,
00:08:04 When I talk about Amna, I feel the world is stopped.
00:08:09 She was all my life and meaning everything to me.
00:08:16 Amna loved the arts, going on walks and reading books.
00:08:20 It was her ambition to become an arts designer.
00:08:25 She was studying English when she died.
00:08:28 She dreamt of completing her education to be an art designer and help others.
00:08:34 She is remembered by Ibrahim as the light of her family,
00:08:39 who would help anyone, whether she knew them or not.
00:08:45 Mohammed Noor was born on the 24th of May, 1973.
00:08:50 He was a loving partner to Amal and to his daughter, Amaya.
00:08:55 He died aged 44 on the 14th of June, 2017.
00:09:02 Mohammed Noor grew up with eight siblings in a small town in Eritrea.
00:09:07 He is affectionately remembered by his family for being well-mannered,
00:09:12 hardworking and above all, kind.
00:09:17 Growing up, Mohammed Noor was the top of his class in English,
00:09:21 which was his favourite subject.
00:09:24 He fled Eritrea at just 17 years old because of the risk he faced from the government.
00:09:33 He moved to London in the early 1990s to continue his education.
00:09:37 He graduated with a bachelor's in genetics from Queen Mary University in 1999
00:09:44 and a master's in bioinformatics from the University of Westminster in 2004.
00:09:52 Mohammed Noor and Amal married in a religious Islamic ceremony in London in 2010.
00:10:00 Mohammed Noor was a generous man who remained close to his family even when he moved to UK.
00:10:08 He supported his sisters, whom he regularly visited in Germany,
00:10:12 and sent money back home to his mother in Eritrea.
00:10:18 In his final job before his death, Mohammed Noor was a security guard
00:10:23 and one of his colleagues from his workplace.
00:10:27 So that Mohammed Noor was, quote,
00:10:29 one of those rare people who brought everyone together and made the world a better place.
00:10:38 Chair, that was a bit about their backgrounds.
00:10:40 I now turn to the events of the 13th and 14th of June 2017.
00:10:46 On the 13th of June 2017, Amno visited her cousin Amal and her niece Amaya in flat 166 of the tower.
00:10:56 Mohammed Noor entered the lobby of the tower at 36 minutes past midnight on the 14th of June.
00:11:04 This was just 18 minutes before the call that Mr. Kabbadi, that we are aware of,
00:11:09 made about the fire in the kitchen of his flat on the fourth floor.
00:11:15 And as we know, the spread of the fire was such that the occupants on the higher floors
00:11:20 were aware of its start within minutes.
00:11:24 At 01.25, Amal's neighbour, Mehran Mekanan, was woken by a call from her aunt
00:11:32 who told her that there was a fire and she should leave.
00:11:36 Mehran ran out of her flat, flat 163.
00:11:41 She ran into the lobby of the 19th floor and on the landing she saw Amal and Amna.
00:11:50 Mehran recalls that they'll smoke the colour of light cigarette smoke.
00:11:55 Mehran and Amal simultaneously shouted, there is a fire.
00:12:01 Mehran told Amal that she knew about the fire and that they had to get out.
00:12:07 The door to Amal's flat, flat 166, was wide open.
00:12:12 Amal ran back into the flat.
00:12:14 Mehran presumed to find Amaya.
00:12:18 This was, unfortunately, the last time Mehran saw Amal alive.
00:12:25 Mehran recalls that the stairwell was lit and noticed grey smoke,
00:12:28 which was slightly darker than in the lobby.
00:12:31 Amna followed Mehran and her daughters into the stairwell and down the stairs.
00:12:37 Mehran said that there were about 10 others walking down the stairwell
00:12:41 and she recalls they did not get very far, perhaps, to the 15th or 16th floor,
00:12:47 when a man below them shouted in a clear English accent, go back, go back.
00:12:54 Mehran had assumed that something worse was happening below them.
00:12:58 The shout caused panic and the group began to run back upstairs.
00:13:04 Mehran and her daughters returned to the landing of the 19th floor.
00:13:09 The door to the lobby was shut.
00:13:12 Mehran decided to ignore the advice and go back down the stairs.
00:13:18 This one split second decision saved her life.
00:13:25 The others were not so fortunate.
00:13:28 Mehran and her daughters escaped Grenfell Tower that night.
00:13:32 She did not know what had happened to the others in the group, including Amna.
00:13:38 Of course, Amna, Amaya and Amal are not here to tell us what happened next.
00:13:46 And therefore we have to turn to the evidence of Faduma Ahmed,
00:13:50 who was a sole resident of flat 164 on the 19th floor.
00:13:58 At 0120, she says she received a call alerting her to the fire.
00:14:04 She gathered some things and left her flat to go downstairs.
00:14:08 When she entered the lobby, it was, and I quote Faduma,
00:14:13 it was full of dark smoke, it was thick, dark, grey and steamy and very hard to see through.
00:14:19 She said it smelled like gas and chemicals and it burned her eyes.
00:14:23 She saw her neighbour, Debbie Lamproll, who lived in flat 161 as we know.
00:14:29 Debbie told her that people were going upstairs.
00:14:32 It sounded to Faduma like Debbie had instructions to go upstairs.
00:14:36 She walked up the stairs, followed by Debbie to the 23rd floor of the tower.
00:14:42 She did not see anyone else on the stairs.
00:14:46 Faduma has said that smoke in the lobby on the 23rd floor was worse than on the 19th floor.
00:14:51 It was, and I quote her, very dark and thick and very hard to see.
00:14:57 Faduma saw a group of people standing at the door to flat 201 on the 23rd floor,
00:15:02 which was opposite the lift in the corner.
00:15:05 She confirmed that this group included Amal, Amaya and Amna.
00:15:12 The group entered flat 201, which was the home of Raymond Bernard.
00:15:17 And we now know that 29 people were sheltering in five flats on the 23rd floor,
00:15:23 10 of whom were in flat 201.
00:15:27 When they entered the flat, the group was crowded around the entrance and hallway.
00:15:32 Faduma recalls that even though there was less smoke in the flat than in the lobby,
00:15:36 they couldn't speak to each other because they could barely breathe.
00:15:42 In the hallway of flat 201, Faduma noticed that there was fire outside the living window.
00:15:48 The window was tilted open and the top had caught fire.
00:15:52 Faduma and Amal went to the bathroom to bring water out and throw it onto the window.
00:15:57 They carried a washing bowl with water to the living room and
00:16:00 threw it about three times.
00:16:03 Faduma realised it wasn't helping.
00:16:07 In her written statement of the inquiry, she said they were trapped with fire from one side
00:16:13 that was starting to come in and thick smoke from the lobby on the other side.
00:16:19 In that moment, Faduma realised that she needed to leave.
00:16:24 She ran out of the flat into the cell wall.
00:16:26 She was rescued by firefighters Roberts and Gillam on the half landing between floors 20 and 21.
00:16:36 In his evidence, when firefighter Gillam asked Faduma whether anyone was left on her floor,
00:16:41 she said no.
00:16:44 None of the crew had asked her from which floor she had come.
00:16:48 Faduma's decision to leave flat 201 when she did, saved her life.
00:16:57 It's not possible to say whether Amal and her daughter, Amaya, followed Faduma out of the flat or left later.
00:17:05 At 01.29, 12-year-old Jessica Barna-Ramirez made a call to the emergency services.
00:17:11 She spoke with CRO Russell of the London Fire Brigade and said there were 10 people in flat 201 on the 23rd floor,
00:17:18 including a two-year-old.
00:17:20 This two-year-old is likely to have been a reference to Amaya.
00:17:27 About half an hour into the call, at approximately 02.00, Jessica said, quote,
00:17:31 don't leave to someone in the room.
00:17:34 When she was asked whether someone was leaving, Jessica said that she had been mistaken.
00:17:38 It's possible, however, that she had been referring to Amal and Amaya's departure.
00:17:47 Amal and Amaya's remains were found in the lobby of the 23rd floor.
00:17:52 Amaya's remains were found by James Eaton of the London Ambulance Service when he went up to that floor on 16 June 2017.
00:18:04 He said this, we found a tiny body directly in front of the communal lobby door that was severely charred.
00:18:12 I could see the bone structure, the body was crumpled, and it would have been hard for people who were not looking
00:18:19 to notice that it was a body.
00:18:24 Amaya was just three years old.
00:18:29 Amna was identified from remains recovered from flat 201.
00:18:34 The postmortem reports for Amaya, Amal, and Amna conclude that their deaths were, quote, consistent with the effects of fire.
00:18:43 In his evidence of the inquiry on the 29th of June this year, Professor Perser concluded that Amna's time of death was approximately 02.45.
00:18:55 As for the conditions in flat 201, he said, quote, from a review of the transcript of 999 caused by Debbie Lampreul and Jessica Barna Ramirez,
00:19:06 it's evident they were gradually overcome by the effects of asphyxiant gases in the smoke, becoming semi-conscious and then eventually unconscious between 02.18 and 02.21.
00:19:22 The other occupants found in flat 201, Raymond Bernard, Berkley Haftam, Birruch Haftam, and Amna Andris, are likely to have been overcome by the effects of asphyxiant gases as well.
00:19:33 Although the occupants of flat 201 were experiencing some heat exposure from the fire at the windows, this coincided with the period during which the level of consciousness was increasingly impaired.
00:19:45 As for Amaya and Amal, Professor Perser concluded that they died between approximately 02.20 and 02.30.
00:19:54 In his evidence, he considered it most likely that Amal and Amaya sheltered in flat 201 until the conditions became extreme, prompting them to leave between 02.00 and 02.10.
00:20:08 If this was the case, they would already have accumulated a dose of asphyxiance close to that capable of causing collapse by the time they left flat 201.
00:20:21 Professor Perser noted that even the effort of getting up and walking from the flat could have been sufficient to result in their immediate collapse in the lobby just outside flat 201 where their remains were recovered.
00:20:37 In relation to the injuries, he said, Amal Amadine and Amaya Touka Amadine collapsed and died outside flats they had been sheltering in for an extended period.
00:20:48 For both cases, he says, there is evidence of significant and prolonged smoke exposure while in flat 201.
00:20:56 And it is likely that they had inhaled doses of asphyxiance while in the flat close to those causing incapacitation, so they collapsed almost immediately after entering the lobby and then died there from asphyxia.
00:21:11 He goes on, it is possible they also became somewhat disoriented in the lobby due to the dense smoke and inhaled asphyxiant gases there for a short period, up to approximately one to two minutes, he says, before collapsing.
00:21:26 It is likely that the severe combustion of the bodies of Amal Amadine and Amaya Touka Amadine occurred sometime after death due to later heat in the lobbies.
00:21:41 Mohammed Noor was in flat 166 when the fire broke out in the tower.
00:21:47 He became separated from his family when he exited the flat on the 19th floor and descended the tower.
00:21:56 The precise description of his last movements are unknown, but as you heard from Mr. Friedman QC this morning,
00:22:05 Mohammed Noor was in a lift with Rihar Rojo, Nadia Jafari, Ali Yawa Jafari and Khadija Khaloufi.
00:22:14 The lift stopped and opened at the 10th floor at approximately 0126.
00:22:19 Rihar Rojo and Nadia Khaloufi remained in the lift as they were the only people who exited the lift when it reached the ground floor.
00:22:26 Mohammed Noor's body was found in the lobby on floor 10 along with the bodies of Khadija Khaloufi and Ali Yawa Jafari.
00:22:36 Mohammed Noor's body was recovered from the blind corridor leading flat 71.
00:22:43 His body was carried out of Grenfell Tower at 0228.
00:22:49 He was not breathing and had no pulse.
00:22:56 Basic life support was provided to Mohammed Noor by the London Ambulance Service.
00:23:01 They conducted CPR and utilised a defibrillator, but as we know they were unable to revive him.
00:23:10 His life was pronounced extinct at 0237 on 14 June 2017.
00:23:20 His post-mortem concludes that he died of inhalation of fire fumes.
00:23:27 An analysis of his blood detected carboxyhemoglobin at a level of 73%.
00:23:35 The toxicology report states that a level of 40 to 50% or more is considered fatal in an otherwise healthy individual.
00:23:43 In relation to his body, the post-mortem report notes that his body was intact.
00:23:50 There were soot deposits on his head and trousers with heavy deposits in the nostrils and on the face.
00:23:57 There were superficial lacerations and abrasions to his forehead, nose and chin.
00:24:02 There were additional abrasions on his left shoulder, bruising and scratches to his chest, flank and back.
00:24:08 There was bruising to the back of his head.
00:24:15 The toxicology report concludes that Mohammed Noor's death occurred at an unknown point in time,
00:24:21 but it was likely relative soon after leaving the lift at approximately 0127.
00:24:29 This appears to be consistent with the death of Mohammed Noor.
00:24:32 The toxicology report concludes that Mohammed Noor's death occurred at approximately 0127.
00:24:39 This appears to be consistent with evidence as Mr. Friedman, Queen's counsel, this morning told us in relation to the evidence from Grenfell town survivor Posse Nalegwega,
00:24:52 who tripped over two bodies when she evacuated from flat 71 at some point before 0135-03.
00:24:59 It's likely that those bodies were of Mohammed Noor and Khadida Khaloufi.
00:25:07 In his evidence in the inquiry on 29 June, Professor Perser said,
00:25:12 Mohammed Noor Tuku collapsed and then died on the 10th lobby due to inhalation of asphyxiant gases, mainly carbon monoxide.
00:25:21 But he also had a slightly elevated blood cyanide concentration, 0.18 mg per litre.
00:25:31 Professor Perser stated,
00:25:33 that the estimated concentration of asphyxiant gases consistent with the conditions of the 10th lobby would have been sufficient to cause collapse and loss of consciousness within minutes, 3-6 minutes he says.
00:25:46 This, he says, is consistent with the events of the 10th floor lobby.
00:25:52 In relation to where Mohammed Noor was found,
00:25:55 Professor Perser said, and I quote,
00:25:58 Khadida Khaloufi and Mohammed Noor Tuku should have had a few minutes to find the stair door before becoming incapacitated.
00:26:06 Since their bodies were recovered from the blind corridor leading to flat 71,
00:26:11 it's possible they were attempting to reach the stair door,
00:26:15 but in the darkness, missed it and entered the corridor immediately to the right of it,
00:26:20 where they became disorientated and trapped.
00:26:24 The minor abrasions on their bodies may have occurred during their attempts to move around the lobby to find the stair door.
00:26:37 So, panel members,
00:26:40 before the fire started just before 1am on the 14th of June,
00:26:44 there were four living and breathing people in flat 166.
00:26:51 All four of them,
00:26:53 Amaya, Amal, Mohammed Noor and Amna, suffered and died from the effects of the fire.
00:27:04 The impact on their families has been devastating.
00:27:09 Winter, Amal's sister, has said this,
00:27:13 Until this day and for the rest of my life,
00:27:17 I will never accept that they're gone and that I will never see them again,
00:27:22 and I will never be able to feel their warmth, their kind and loving hearts.
00:27:28 I will continue planning Amaya's life,
00:27:32 what she would be doing today, tomorrow,
00:27:36 her 10th birthday, her 18th, her 21st,
00:27:42 and the rest of her life.
00:27:45 We all miss them so much.
00:27:50 Amna's husband, Ibrahim Abdul Karim, says this,
00:27:56 I will never find someone like Amna.
00:27:59 Now I lost the support.
00:28:01 She was support to me at all times.
00:28:04 Not only me, but everyone who know her.
00:28:07 She was the light of her family.
00:28:08 At the time of his brother's death, Ibrahim Tuku lived in Saudi Arabia.
00:28:14 He said this,
00:28:16 I used to dream of us being reunited.
00:28:20 I dreamt of us being together as brothers with our families and children.
00:28:25 I was always praying to see him at least once after so many years,
00:28:30 and to meet his family and have all our children together.
00:28:33 I wanted so badly to introduce Amaya to my daughter.
00:28:37 Even my daughter, who is now seven years old, was very excited to see Amaya.
00:28:43 I told my daughter, this is your cousin.
00:28:47 And every time she saw Amaya in a picture, she would kiss the photograph.
00:28:52 My children do not know that Mohammed Nador, Mohammed Nador's father,
00:28:58 and his family have passed away.
00:29:01 We have told the kids that they have gone away on a trip.
00:29:07 When I heard the news of the fire, I was just praying that they would be alive
00:29:13 so we could have the chance to meet at least once as a family.
00:29:19 Thank you, sir.
00:29:21 Thank you.
00:29:28 Thank you.
00:29:58 Thank you.
00:30:17 Thank you very much, Mr Khan.
00:30:21 And that presentation concludes the work of the inquiry for today.
00:30:26 We shall rise now and we shall resume our hearings tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock,
00:30:32 and we shall hear further presentations.
00:30:35 Thank you very much. 10 o'clock tomorrow, please.