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BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire hugs resident of Grenfell Tower as he recalls the horrific scenes

12 people are confirmed dead from the awful incident

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Mahad Egal broke down on TV as he relived the horrific London tower block fire.

Mahad, who was a resident of Grenfell Tower, struggled to get his words out as he tried to describe the awful scenes of people “jumping out of windows” as the fire tore through the flats.

BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire hugged Mahad as he spoke out what he saw.

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He told the Victoria: “So many people were left; we had so many relatives and families who were still trapped in, calling and saying please let the fire services know that we are still here.

“At first it seemed it was controllable, but really quickly the fire started to rise as the cladding caught fire.

“Initially we thought it would be fine and the firefighters would be able to put the fire out. But there was a sense of hesitation from the firefighters; they didn’t start putting out the fire with water until 3am.”

He went on to say: “This was really horrific.

“There were people who were jumping out of the place.

“We saw a lot with our own eyes. We saw friends and families.”

He went on to explain that he saw a man throw two of his children out of the building before breaking down.

Victoria then hugged Mahad as he burst into tears.

Huge flames ripped through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block throughout the early hours of this morning.

It’s been reported that 200 firefighters and 40 engines were at the scene trying to put out the blaze.

Several residents are confirmed dead and police have said they expect the number to rise.

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More than 70 people are currently being treated in hospital while a further 20 are in a critical condition.

It has not yet been confirmed what the cause of the fire was.

Meanwhile another local resident, Samira Lamrani, described witnessing the heartbreaking scenes where she saw a woman throw her baby from the “ninth or tenth floor”.

Samira explained that the baby was caught by a member of the public on the ground below.

She said: “A woman was gesturing like she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch the baby.

“A gentlemen ran forward and managed to grab the baby.”

She added: “From all angles people were screaming for help.”


Rebecca Carter
Associate Editor (News)

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