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Home / World

London Grenfell Tower: Families feel 'helpless' as they are left in the dark about missing relatives

By Helena Horton
NZ Herald·
15 Jun, 2017 08:40 PM4 mins to read

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Video, broadcast by Sky News, shows video captured by desperate residents on the 23rd floor. It is not known if they survived. Video/Sky News

Two young sisters from the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower have been found in the same hospital more than 24 hours after the blaze as the anguish of families turns to anger over the lack of information.

Malek Belkadi, 8, and her sister Tamzin, 6, were identified in hospital after frantic friends mounted a massive search effort to find them.

Adel Chaoui, whose cousin Farah Hamdan as well as her husband Omar Belkadi are still missing - along with their 6 -month-old baby Leena - told the Telegraph of the horrific struggle the family has faced in trying to find them.

Mum Farah Hamdan and her six-month-old daughter Leena are still missing.
Mum Farah Hamdan and her six-month-old daughter Leena are still missing.

He said protocol means hospitals and authorities are not allowed to give out information, and they have had to beg for scraps of news from sympathetic nurses and police officers, who implored him to keep quiet about their identities lest they get in trouble for helping.

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His cousin's children, two girls aged 6 and 7, were eventually found in hospital yesterday after a gruelling search - with no help from authorities.

The children, one of whom is in a coma and the other, who is sedated because of trauma, were in the same hospital, unidentified.

Mr Chaoui told the Telegraph: "We have a 6 and an 8-year-old - one is traumatised and the other is in a coma. When she went into hospital she was just screaming. And rather than trying to identify who these children are and who their parents are, protocol means they can't identify them at this time.

"We have had no help from the police, we understand that they're busy but they've got casualties in the hospitals.

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"People are having to make contact with the hospitals themselves who are being told they can't get any information.

"My family has been round all the hospitals asking for anyone who matches the descriptions.

"One took pity on us and gave us information and lo and behold it was one of the children who was missing.

"Our brother is wandering around the wards and sees a child two beds down and found that it was her sibling.

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Two women look at tributes placed at a community centre near Grenfell Tower in London. Photo / AP
Two women look at tributes placed at a community centre near Grenfell Tower in London. Photo / AP

"One of them is in a coma, and the other wouldn't stop screaming because she was so traumatised so has been sedated.

"The hospitals had no idea who these children were- they didn't even realise they were related."

He says: "The police are following protocol they have in place during terrorist incidents. There needs to be separate protocol for civil disasters. That's what's going wrong here.

"They're still treating everyone as suspects."

Families hoping for news from missing loved ones have had to run around London from hospital to hospital, with no help from police and no centralised police service.

The angry family of missing 12-year-old Jessica Urbano have complained of the lack of help they have received.

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Her aunt Sandra Ruiz wrote to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying: "We the families of the missing need a named liaison officer who can keep us directly informed and can assist in our search.

"Yesterday, 12 members of my family visited the rescue centres as well as all the main London hospitals several times, while others were on the emergency lines.

Girls have photos of a missing child on their t-shirts near scene of the massive fire in Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP
Girls have photos of a missing child on their t-shirts near scene of the massive fire in Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP

"We are still not aware of the whereabouts of my niece. The emergency line gives no information nor do the hospitals. Families are running from one hospital to another in desperation."

She also wrote of the "chaos" caused as hospitals are swamped with worried relatives and "relying on pen and paper". Ms Ruiz said the families feel "helpless".

Mr Chaoui said he understands police are busy keeping people safe, but wonders why protocol means they can't reunite children with their families.

He said: "Effectively it was us trawling our ward to find our family - it's the protocol that means we can't be helped.

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"What's the point of following the regulations if they're wrong?

The scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London. Photo / AP
The scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London. Photo / AP

"The protocols right now is to not contact anyone - ask anybody who has a missing relative and they'd say 'I'd rather go to Spain to try and find my relative or help someone find their relative than just have no information at all'. We just want to be able to do something."

Mr Chaoui also spoke of how a female police officer eventually helped him when they got her sympathy and told their tragic tale - but that she was terrified of getting caught and reprimanded.

He said: "Eventually people are giving you the information and it's on a very hush-hush basis.

"It's all very cagey. First they try and push you away and eventually we get some information but only after we get their sympathies."

- Daily Telegraph

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