TRAPPED
UPDATE: Family in dramatic Camberwell fire video survive
TRAPPED and terrified, a family huddle together on a high-rise balcony while a building burns all around them.
With incredible bravery, Rasheed Nuhu and his wife do their best to comfort their two small children in their arms - using towels to shield them from the heat and smoke.
They were only about 30 feet from the seat of the blaze in Camberwell, south London, which killed six people on Friday. The family huddled together while two fireman on a lift ladder sprayed the balcony with water in an attempt to prevent the flames spreading.
"I thought this was the end," Mr Nohu later told Channel 4 News. "I looked to my left and saw this massive fireball. I just thought we are in a precarious situation and we have to plan a getaway."
The footage was taken by Anthony Reece, who was heading off to shoot a music video when he saw the smoke pouring from the building and took a detour.
Mr Reece, 25, of nearby Dulwich, said: "I was totally shocked by what I saw.
"It's the worst thing I've ever filmed, but I just thought I'd better let it roll.
"I saw one man [Rasheed Nuhu] try climbing over a balcony with a rope and he was going to jump. I was watching too stunned to film it, but fortunately people were shouting at him not to and he climbed back in."
Jospeh Paco was among those calling out to the man. Joseph, 36, said: "We were all shouting at him, telling him not to do it as it was too dangerous.
"He had tied the blankets together and went to lower himself down to safety. But I kept shouting at him, 'Be patient, help is coming'."
Other shocking scenes on the video show a man going in and out of a smoke-filled flat on the top floor, as he struggles to breathe through a handkerchief. The far side of the building is a mass of flames, so he appears to be unable to escape.
The man survived by wrapping a towel around his head and walking to safety.
The speed at which the fire has swept through the building is all too obvious, with smoke and flames engulfing the whole structure with terrifying speed.
In the streets below there is pandemonium. A car lies on its side, upturned by emergency services in order for them to reach the scene.
Dead
Mr Nuhu said that as the fire took hold, his family gave refuge to two of the fire victims - Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old baby daughter, Michelle.
When his flat filled with smoke they moved to the flat of his next door neighbour Dayana Francisquini, who was protecting her two children in the bathroom.
Mrs Francisquini and her three-year old son Filipe later died in the blaze. It is thought her six-year-old daughter Thais is also dead, but police haven't made a formal identification.
Survivors and bereaved families will now be demanding urgent answers. Why was the fire able to spread through the building so quickly, leaving so many trapped while emergency services battled to reach them?
Two helplines have been set up for anyone needing information about the fire, a police number 0300 123 1212 and local authority number 0207 525 5000.
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This article has 9 comments
i was flabbagasted i used to live in flat 81 and handed it over to someone else then probably dayana moved in im lucky i moved cause that could have been me and my little sister
By Daniel. Posted August 6 2009 at 3:42 PM.
It is such a shame the council should stand up for this what a waste of life R.I.P to all of you
By donna. Posted July 6 2009 at 5:56 PM.
there is only ine way to stop this and that is pull these high rise flats down and rehouse these people at once they should never have been built in the first place and the people that live there should refuse to go back and demand new accomodation
By barbara ward. Posted July 5 2009 at 11:49 PM.
this is well bad it is well sad that many people died
loads of people were well lucky that the whole building didnt fall.
This is very dangerous !!!!
RIP to the people who died
By Jemma Roscoe . Posted July 5 2009 at 2:39 PM.
You don`t realise the enormity of the whole thing until you see this video. A man lost his wife and 2 kids. It`s shocking - and needless - people should not be living in such dangerous buildings in this day and age. It`s criminal !
By lana. Posted July 5 2009 at 12:44 PM.
if fire attack the front door of the prosperties there is no way out. So why are these buildings deem fit for human occupation.
So luck this block had a balacony as so many more would have perished. not all these high rises have a balcony.
By millie. Posted July 5 2009 at 10:18 AM.
i used to live that particular block of flats, indeed it was my very first flat. i know exactly how they they are laid out and was always worried in case a fire broke out what would happen. now my fears have come true. am so sorry those poor people have lost lives and homes. it wasn't nice then and most definitely horrendous now.
By bev. Posted July 5 2009 at 7:43 AM.
Im so glad the family huddled on the balcony was saved! It didnt say whether the man with the rope was too...i really hope so?! And the hankerchief man is still here thankfully. Such a shame lives was lost. I read on sky news a comment about people not taking care of their enviroment, and i hope this runs through the teenagers who are rebelling and stop the drug dens, graffetti and everyone dumping rubbish in their own communities. Life is too precious and not worth it just to get rid of your old matress! Not saying this was a cause or part of the fire but STILL dangerous and has conciquences!
By elena. Posted July 5 2009 at 1:03 AM.
What a shame. It is about time the Health and safety executes come up with some new rules about combating fires in high rise flats. And this should passed in law. After all this is not the frst time. If fires attack the front doors in these properties there is no way out.
By Gavin Johnson. Posted July 5 2009 at 12:44 AM.