A heroic Grenfell survivor has described the moment he carried his disabled mother from the top floor of the blazing block of flats.
Farhad Neda and his mother Flora, 55, were the only survivors on the 23rd floor during the disaster, which claimed at least 80 lives.
Mr Neda said ’35 or 40 people came up to their floor’ during the inferno and claimed they had been ordered to by the fire brigade to prepare for a helicopter rescue.
Farhad Neda and his mother Flora, 55, were the only survivors on the 23rd floor during the disaster, which claimed at least 80 lives
As the blaze took hold on June 14, he grabbed his mother after she told him: ‘I don’t want to go through the pain of burning alive. I’m going to jump out the window.’
The 24-year-old told Channel 4 News how he carried his mother on his shoulders down 23 flights of stairs while choking on thick black smoke in the pitch black.
He trampled over bodies in the stairwell as people lay dying but told his mother, ‘It’s just the fire brigade’s hoses that we’re stepping on’.
They gulped fresh air from a ‘two or three foot high air pocket underneath the smoke’ as they made their way down to stay alive – something he describes as a ‘miracle’.
And after waking from an induced coma he discharged himself from hospital to find his missing father but was told he had died in the fire and that injuries were consistent with a fall from a height.
In the interview to be broadcast tonight the mechanical engineering graduate tells Channel 4 News how he got home with this mother and father only thirty minutes before the fire started:
Mr Neda told Channel 4’s Jon Snow ’35 or 40 people came up to their floor’ during the inferno and claimed they had been ordered to by the fire brigade to prepare for a helicopter rescue.
‘We got ready for bed, and my mum came in saying there was a sort of burning smell,’ he said.
‘We didn’t think much of it because the fire alarms weren’t going off and we couldn’t see the fire at all from the side because I believe the fire started from the other side of the building.
‘While we were in the flat we were on the phone to other neighbours that had already made it out of the building or my school friends that lived around the tower.
‘They were right next to the fire brigade and I asked them, “what’s the fire brigade instructing us to do?” and they were just telling us “They’re on their way up. They’ll come and get you soon. Just stay in your flats”.’
Tonight a London Fire Brigade spokesperson told Channel 4 News: ‘The Grenfell fire was an unprecedented fire and due to the ongoing investigations we cannot go into details of what happened on the night.
‘That said, we can confirm that we do not use helicopters to conduct rescues from high rise towers fires.’
Mr Neda trampled over bodies in the stairwell as people lay dying but told his mother, ‘It’s just the fire brigade’s hoses that we’re stepping on’. Pictured: The burnt-out remains of Grenfell Tower