LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) – The brother of a man named as a victim of a devastating blaze that gutted a 24-story apartment block in London, killing at least 17 people, described a chaotic rescue effort to the BBC on Thursday (June 15).
The Syrian Solidarity Campaign said on its Facebook page that Mohammed Al Haj Ali, a refugee from Syria studying engineering in London, was one of those who had been killed in the fire.
Al Haj Ali’s brother, Omar, who shared the 14th-floor apartment, spoke of the ordeal. He was led to safety, but his brother was not. As flames got nearer, Omar and his brother Hashem spoke by phone.
Omar and Hashem added in a previous interview that they wanted to be reunited with their parents and sisters, who are in Syria.
As many as 600 people lived in more than 120 apartments in Grenfell Tower. In the early hours of Wednesday (June 14), the building turned into a flaming torch in minutes.
