Victims of London Grenfell Tower fire commemorated

By Sam Tobin in Britain:

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

72nd victim of the Grenfell Tower blaze commemorated

A WOMAN who died seven months after the Grenfell Tower fire was commemorated as the 72nd victim of the blaze today.

Maria del Pilar Burton, 74, died in January after managing to escape the fire in Kensington, west London on June 14 last year.

Her husband of 34 years, Nicholas Burton, told the public inquiry into the disaster that the fire had “a terrible effect” on Ms Burton’s dementia.

He said: “Everything was gone. It was just too much so I just had to try to explain with little bits of information to guide her through the trauma.”

Tributes were also paid to relatives of six members of the same family who lost their lives: Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and three-year-old Zaynab Choucair died with their parents Nadia and Bassem and grandmother Sirria Choucair on the 22nd floor.

Sirria’s son Hisam told the inquiry: “In one night I have lost half of my family.

“I don’t see it as a tragedy. I see it as an atrocity.”

Rania Ibrahim, 31, who died on the top floor of the tower with her daughters Hania Hassan, three, and Fethia Hassan, five, was remembered by her sister Rasha, who said: “To this day, the questions remain in my mind and plague me about what exactly happened — it is very important for me to take part in this process of questioning, to find out the truth.”

Deborah Lamprell, 45, was commemorated by her mother Miriam, who said: “If she had died a normal death I would have been able to hold her and comfort her and say goodbye, but I feel a part of me has been ripped out.”

Testimony to Grenfell Fire inquiry paints devastating picture of social murder: here.

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