THE FIRST VICTIM of the Grenfell Tower fire has been named as Mohammed Alhajali, as families search for their loved ones in hospitals and community shelters.
The first victim of the Grenfell Tower fire has been named as Mohammed Alhajali.
He was a Syrian refugee who came to the UK in 2014 and was studying civil engineering.
His brother, Omar, told the BBC that he became separated from his brother during the evacuation.
An acclaimed photographer, a six-month-old baby and a pair of Italian architects are among the dozens reported missing in the London tower block fire.
Seventeen people have been confirmed dead, although police say they believe the toll will rise.
Around 35 appeals to find lost loved ones have so far been made in the press and on social media, including the following residents of the 24-floor Grenfell Tower:
Acclaimed artist
Photographer Khadija Saye, 24, recently had her work shown at the Venice Biennale, writing on Facebook that: “It’s been a real journey, tears shed, highs and lows, but mama, I’m an artist exhibiting at the Venice Biennale and the blessings are abundant!”
She was believed to have been living in the tower with her mother, Mary Mendy, who is also missing.
Saye has known Labour MP David Lammy for a “number of years,” and the politician led the appeals on Twitter, calling her a “beautiful soul and emerging artist”.
“We grow more sad and bleak at every second,” Lammy told BBC radio.
‘Tell my sons I love them’
Great-grandad Tony Disson, 65, made a series of phone calls from his flat, saying he was trapped in his bathroom.
The ex-market trader’s phone stopped responding around 4am after he told a friend to “tell my sons I love them”, according the Sun newspaper.
His eldest son Lee, 47, posted a Facebook message reading: “If anyone has seen my dad, Tony Disson, could they let us know. My heart goes out to all the people at Grenfell tower.”
Six-month old missing
Farah Hamdan, her husband Omar Belkadi and their six-month-old daughter are still unaccounted for, according to Farah’s father, Rkia.
“We’ve been to all the hospitals and we’ve been searching all day but we still haven’t found them, we just want to know they are safe,” he told The Sun.
Her other two daughters, aged six and 10, were eventually found in hospital.
Italian architects
Italian couple Marco Gottardi, 27, and Gloria Trevisan, 27, were both missing, feared dead, according to one of their fathers.
The two architects had moved to London three months ago for work.
“At the moment there are two of our citizens who are confirmed as missing,” an Italian foreign ministry official told AFP.
An Italian newspaper, Il Mattino di Padova, said Gottardi had been on phone with his father and told him the smoke was rising before the line suddenly cut.
The paper said the couple lived on the 23rd floor.
Business graduate
Mariem Elgwahry, 27, lived on the 19th floor of Grenfell Tower, where she is reported to have lived with mother Suhar.
Family and friends told the Independent that they had searched local hospitals, but had found neither women.
Elgwahry’s online profile said she was a senior marketing manager at cashback website Quidco, having graduated from the University of Roehampton in 2011 with a degree in business management.
‘Very, very scared’
Jessica Urbano, 12, has not been traced since talking to her aunt Sandra Ruiz at around 1.40am.
“She was with a group of people in the fire escape, in the fire stairs, they live on the 20th floor,” said Ruiz, while appealing for information.
“She would have been in her bed clothes and she will be very, very, very scared. We’re just desperate to find her.”
Oldest missing person
Sheila Smith, 84, is the oldest of those to be declared missing so far.
Her son Adam, who describes himself as a tech entrepreneur, launched an appeal on Twitter, writing “my Mum is missing – Sheila, 84 years old, 16th floor Grenfell Tower.”
Rania Ibrham, 30, uploaded a distressing Facebook Live video as she pleaded for help from a smoke-filled corridor before going back into her flat. She has not been contactable since.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say