Grenfell Inquiry day 60: stay put advice ‘led to deaths’, residents say

He said: “I feel that the residents were fatally let down. Having been in contact with the firefighters outside the tower, I was told on several occasions that they were on the way to get us. I feel that it is the false hope which prevented a number of people from escaping the tower that night.

“The image that we had, being in the tower, was that the building was swarming with firefighters – enough for everyone to have some assistance, not just people on the lower floors. I feel that if we had been told the truth… at least people would have had time to make the decision for themselves whether they could get out of the building.”

Describing events in the tower, Mr Neda said that after leaving his flat, shortly after smelling smoke, he met residents who were ascending the tower to upper floors on advice they had received.

He said: “I do not remember all the details, but it got to a point where we decided to leave our flat and we wanted to make our way down the stairs.

“We – me, my mum and my dad – got dressed again and we left the flat, locked our front door and we even went into the staircase. At that point, we saw people from downstairs coming up towards us. These people were our neighbours from lower floors.”

Asked who had given the advice to head to upper floors, Mr Neda said: “I thought it was the firefighters – she didn’t say. I believe one of the Iranian ladies kept on mentioning that they had been told that helicopters would come and rescue them from the top.

“I don’t know where she got the information from but that’s what she told us. They told us that there was no way out from the stairs.”

The fire eventually reached Mr Neda’s flat and with the bedroom window broken, the fire spread into the apartment.

“When she mentioned that they would be sending helicopters, my mum mentioned that there was no way for us to get onto the roof because it was locked.

“She [the neighbour] had spoken to someone on the phone before coming up – I don’t know who it was – and the fact that there were helicopters flying around outside the tower influenced that.

“They had told me they had reached a certain level. He said they weren’t sure what level the firefighters had reached, but assured us that the firefighters would be with us soon.

“I thought: ‘They are clearly thinking about us.’ I had no reason to disbelieve them. I thought to myself: ‘We don’t have enough time to wait for them.’”

Giving evidence in the afternoon, Mr Neda’s mother Flora Neda, who had lived in their flat since 1999, said that many people had told her that there was “no way” down Grenfell Tower that night.

Ms Neda said: “When they came up, I saw her. She came up with her sister and was using her walker as well. When I saw her, she came straight to us and she said: ‘There is a fire.’

“There’s a fire and they are coming to our flat. We wanted to come down and… she told me the firefighter told her to go up, the firefighter will rescue [us].

“She kept saying, asking, ‘Why the helicopter is not coming? They told us.’

In her written evidence, Ms Neda said two Iranian sisters, Sakina and Fatima, came towards her after coming up the stairs. She said: “Sakina told me that there was a fire and that she had been told to go upstairs by the fire brigade, as a helicopter was coming to rescue us.

“They came into our flat and she kept walking around, asking Saber and me, ‘When is the helicopter coming?’

“I told them that there was no access to the roof and that the door was locked. They again repeated, ‘They told us we have to go up.’

“Four people came into our flat to get away from the fire. They were an Egyptian mother and daughter, whom I knew from the floors below. I now know their names to be Eslah and Mariem Elgwahry.”

Ms Neda told how over time, the fire began getting closer to the floor, with smoke appearing from under her front door and filling her flat. Her escape, according to CCTV images of her son Farhad leaving the entrance to the tower, was timed at 2.24am.

Giving her final statement, Ms Neda said: “Those people who died in the night of the fire – the only cause of their death was the stay-put policy.

“If they hadn’t believed the fire brigade and the stay-put policy and hadn’t listened to them, I am sure they would be alive, including my husband.

“The fire brigade has to take responsibility for their mistakes. This mistake destroyed my life, my son’s life and also all the [lives of the] people in the Grenfell Tower… I am not saying [this] just for my husband. The mothers, children, brothers and sisters – when I remember them, I am not only standing [up] for my husband.

“They are not alive to give their voice; my voice should be for them as well. I am sure I couldn’t get my husband back or the family who lost their family as well, but at least they should change the policy [so that] it does not happen in future. If they stay with this policy I am sure nobody will trust them any more. I am sure it will cost more mistakes. I want justice.”