NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Children and elderly among the missing from Grenfell Tower fire

Daily Telegraph UK
14 Jun, 2017 09:17 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ana Ospina tweeted this image of her 13-year-old niece Jessie who is missing after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Ana Ospina tweeted this image of her 13-year-old niece Jessie who is missing after the Grenfell Tower fire.

The London Fire Brigade has confirmed that there have been fatalities in the Grenfell Tower fire, which consumed the block in west London in the early hours of the morning local time.

People have been desperately searching for their loved ones who live in the building as people appeared to be trapped inside, the Telegraph reports.

The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Borough Nick Paget-Brown said "several hundred" people would have been in the block when the fire broke out.

Smoke and flames billow from the fire that raged in the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP
Smoke and flames billow from the fire that raged in the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP

Children are believed to be among those missing, as school students search for their friends.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There were reports that fire alarms in the main building did not go off, and residents were woken up and saved by neighbours banging on their doors, as well as screams of terror from others who lived in the building.

There were reports on social media of residents using bedsheets as makeshift ropes while others were reportedly seen jumping for their lives.

Khadija Saye who is missing after the Grenfell Tower Fire in London.
Khadija Saye who is missing after the Grenfell Tower Fire in London.

Khadija Saye

Friends and family of Khadija Saye have been desperately searching for her.

Adz Mendez, her cousin, wrote: "If anyone has any information or know of anyone by the name of Khadija Saye or Mary Mendy please get in touch.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"My aunt and cousin are stuck in the fire at the Grenfel Tower in Latimer and we are unable to get in touch with them. May God be with them all".

Mary Mendy

The mother of Khadija Saye is also missing, according to friends and family.

Mariem Elgwahry

Friends and family of Mariem Elgwahry are searching high and low for her after she went missing.

She last spoke to her mother at 2.30am and has not been heard from since.

Discover more

World

London inferno: Everything we know so far

14 Jun 12:31 AM
World

Witness: 'They were screaming back to me'

14 Jun 05:17 AM
World

London inferno: 'No sprinklers, fire alarm'

14 Jun 07:37 AM
World

London fire: Did cladding turn tower into a tomb?

14 Jun 08:48 PM

Her loved ones are scouring hospitals and community centres to find her.

Her friend said: "Please let me know if you see Mariem Elgwahry. She was on the 19th floor Grenfell tower. Last someone heard from her was 2.30AM she was with her mum!! Please let anyone know if she has been located thank you for all your help please share!! I've been to the rugby club, harrow club Laymer Christian church with no luck yet"

Ana Ospina tweeted this image of her 13-year-old niece Jessie who is missing after the Grenfell Tower fire.
Ana Ospina tweeted this image of her 13-year-old niece Jessie who is missing after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Ana Ospina said her 13-year-old niece Jessica was missing in the fire.

Jessica's other aunt, Sandra, wrote: "If anyone sees Jessica she should come to The Harrow Centre where the family are waiting for her. Or speak to any police officer to guide her".

She said Jessica may have been seen getting into an ambulance, and has been checking with local hospitals.

Ali Yawar Jafari

Hamid Ali Jafari said that he his 82 year-old father Ali Yawar Jafari had not been seem since the early hours of the morning as the family were trying to escape the blaze.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said: "He was with my mother and sister in the lift and she said the lift stopped on the tenth floor and he said there was too much smoke and he couldn't breathe and he got out of the lift and then the doors shut and it didn't stop again till the ground floor."

Mr Jafari, who rushed to the scene from his home in Camden when he heard there was a fire, had tried to get in to find him but had been blocked by the emergency services. They had not be able to find him at any of the hospitals.

Smoke billows from the Grenfell Tower after the fire engulfed the 24-storey block. Photo / AP
Smoke billows from the Grenfell Tower after the fire engulfed the 24-storey block. Photo / AP

Noora Jamal

A mother of three trapped in the Grenfell Tower blaze rang a friend to tell her she feared she was about to die, it emerged on Wednesday.

The woman, named locally as Noora Jamal, called her friend at around 2am and said: "Forgive me, the fire is here, I'm dying."

Her daughter is understood to have escaped from the fire and is now being treated in hospital, but her two sons, aged 6 and 11, are both still missing.

Hibo Yussuf, 35, a friend of the missing woman, told The Telegraph: "We've heard that Nora's daughter is in hospital but hasn't been able to get hold of her mum. Noora called one of her friends to say 'Forgive me, the fire is here, I'm dying.'

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Now we don't know where she is or if she's dead or alive."

Mrs Yussuf said a teaching assistant from Avondale Primary School called Nadia was also missing, along with her husband and mother in law.

"They lived on the 22nd floor. I don't know what's happened to them. It's so horrible," she said.

Local residents gather after a massive fire raged through the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP
Local residents gather after a massive fire raged through the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP

Steve Power

Mr Power's sons told The Telegraph they are looking for their father.

He was on the 30th floor and is still missing.

Other missing people - and the terror residents faced

A woman named Suha told LBC that she had an elderly relative missing.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said: "I can hear the screaming of people, I can hear them, and my neighbours all around got woken up by the screams.

"I have a relative who lives in the building, she lives on the 20th floor, and we don't know whether she is out or not. We have been here since it started."

Firefighters battle the massive fire that raged in the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP
Firefighters battle the massive fire that raged in the Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP

Siar Naqshabandi, at the Rugby Portobello centre, told The Guardian he lives on the third floor and said his brother, who was in the building, heard no fire alarms. "I came back at about 1.45am and saw the building was on fire. I rang him [his brother] and said, get out."

He has more family living on the 23rd floor and an uncle is still missing. "They were telling people not to leave the building," he said. "I told them to get down. They said we're not allowed to get out."

Andy Manfrego, who lives yards away, was desperately searching for a relative trapped inside at 3am.

He told the Evening Standard: "It went up in seconds. It's been burning for nearly two hours and you can see people at the top still in there.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Bits of the building keep dropping off it's awful. Everyone's waiting at the cordon trying to call their family members who could still be in there."

Firefighters rest as they take a break in battling the massive fire that raged through the building. Photo / AP
Firefighters rest as they take a break in battling the massive fire that raged through the building. Photo / AP

Ahmed Chellat told Good Morning Britain that he has five family members unaccounted for after they were told to stay inside their homes in the burning building.

He said: "When I saw the fire from my window, I rushed downstairs, I phoned my sister who lives in the same block, she was safe with her children.

"I phoned her and she spoke to me and said they were advised not to come out of the place and put white towels under the doors.

"Ten minutes later I phoned back and she said the smoke was getting into them very bad...and that was the last time I spoke to them".

This story originally appeared on the Telegraph here.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

What to know about Thailand's political crisis

19 Jun 04:25 AM
World

Karen Read found not guilty of police officer boyfriend's murder

19 Jun 03:26 AM
World

Allegedly stolen SUV races through mall

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

What to know about Thailand's political crisis

What to know about Thailand's political crisis

19 Jun 04:25 AM

The uneasy alliance of parties forming the government is on the verge of collapse.

Karen Read found not guilty of police officer boyfriend's murder

Karen Read found not guilty of police officer boyfriend's murder

19 Jun 03:26 AM
Allegedly stolen SUV races through mall

Allegedly stolen SUV races through mall

Premium
Controversial Kiwi start-up, once worth $38m, folds in New York

Controversial Kiwi start-up, once worth $38m, folds in New York

19 Jun 02:37 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP