‘Pray for me’: Final messages emerge from people trapped in Grenfell Tower
Heartbreaking messages are starting to emerge from people who were trapped inside Grenfell Tower as flames engulfed the west London residential block in the early hours of Wednesday.
While some of the victims begged for help, others simply accepted their fate and said their goodbyes.
Khadija Saye, 24, who was in a flat on the 20th floor with her 54-year-old mother Mary Mendy, sent out a Facebook message reading “please pray for me” as smoke filled her flat.
Both mother and daughter are yet to be accounted for.
Saye, whose artwork has been featured at the prestigious Venice Biennale exhibition, was reportedly on Facebook Messenger until 3am, roughly three hours after the blaze started.
Her friend Nicola Green said: “She was on Facebook saying she was unable to get out of the flat, that the smoke was so thick.
“She was saying, ‘Please pray for me. There’s a fire. I can’t leave the flat. Please pray for me and my mum,’” Green said, according to the Daily Mail.
“At one point she’d tried to leave again and it was impossible. She said she felt like she was going to faint.”
Nura Jemal and her husband Hashim Kedir were among the families stuck in the 24-story tower and who were told to wait in their flats for emergency services to rescue them.
Her friend Asyia Assani said: “The lifts were not in use and the stairwell was filled with thick smoke so they were told it was not safe to leave.
“The emergency services said to stay inside and put a blanket at the bottom of the front door to block smoke getting in, and we’ll come and get you out.”
Assani said Jemal then got in contact with her again at 2am, this time to say farewell.
“Goodbye, I’m not going to make it. Please forgive me."
A 12-year-old is still reportedly missing. Her last known whereabouts was a flat on the 20th floor.
Jessica Urbano sounded panicked as she called her mother in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Her mother, an office cleaner, was returning from work when she tried to enter the building but was forced back by the flames.
She told the MailOnline: “Jessica called me. She was panicking. She said there was a fire.”
Witnesses said they saw the teenage schoolgirl being put in an ambulance, but the mother says she has not heard from her daughter since her call at 1:40am.
A 23-year-old Syrian refugee who had fled to Britain to escape violence in his home country is confirmed to have died in the Grenfell tragedy.
Engineering student Mohammad Alhajali fled the city of Daraa three years ago, but has been confirmed among the fatalities.
His older brother was rescued and is recovering in hospital.
Close friend Kareen El Beyrouty said: “They are lovely boys and have been through hell to get here.
“Syrian refugees come here to escape death, not to meet it,” El Beyrouty said, the Evening Standard reported.
The building had the capacity to accommodate up to 600 people.
More than 70 are being treated in hospital, with 17 in a critical condition.
Although many residents are yet to be accounted for, police do not expect “to find anyone else alive.”
