IN THE GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY

WITNESS STATEMENT

OF

NADIA YOUSEF

Introduction

I. I am the above-named person and I lived at Flat 121 on the 15111 floor at Grenfell tower

with my fiancée, Sied Bayam. My fiancée Sied moved in with me in March 2014.

2. I make this statement in relation to the fire at Grenfell Tower last year, where my

partner and I lived and managed when the fire engulfed the tower.

3. The facts and matters set out in this witness statement are within my own knowledge,

unless otherwise stated, and are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Where I

refer to information supplied by others, the source of the information is identified. Facts

and matters derived from other sources are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Grenfell Tower

4. Grenfell Tower has twenty three floors. The main entrance is a set of glass doors located

on the left side of the tower. Once you pass these doors, there is another door that leads

to the ground floor lobby. Access to both doors can be gained through a fob key. Access

to all twenty three floors is by two lifts and a stairway. Entrance to the stairway is

situated to the left of the lifts as you face them.

5. Our flat, 121, is situated on the right-hand side of the landing as you exit the lifts. All

the windows within our flat are situated on the side facing the leisure centre. Our flat is

a little different to other flats as the previous resident was disabled and there were

therefore some adjustments.

6. In addition to our flat, there are five other flats on the fifteenth floor. They are as

follows:

i. Flat 122: this was occupied by a male my fiancée and I know as Steve,

who has three dogs. Steve is aged Myears and around 5 ft. He has

lived in the tower for over twenty years.

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ii. Flat 123: this was occupied by a Moroccan female and her daughter. The

female is around 55 years old who always wore a headscarf. They lived

in the tower for over ten years.

iii. Flat 124: this was occupied by a female I know as Aziza and

her daughter. They have lived in the tower for over ten years too.

iv. Flat 125: this was occupied by an male I know as All, his wife

and their daughter. They moved in the tower a year ago.

v. Flat 126: I do not know who lives there.

7. My fiancée Sied had a friendly relationship with Steve and All. I did so with the females

on my floor. We were all on good terms.

The fire on the 14th June 2017

8. On the night of the fire, Sied and I had returned home late, at approximately 12.30am. It

was Ramadan so we were out breaking our fast with Sled's family. Sied and I prayed

and watched TV, after which I went to our bedroom to sleep. It was only because Sied

was awake when the fire began to spread at around lam that we were able to act so

quickly and save our lives.

9. At around 1.10-1.15am, Sied heard noises that sounded like thunder and lightning very

close to the window. "the thought that it might be the sound of spreading fire passed

through his mind, but he initially rejected that possibility as he had not heard any fire

engine sirens. As the sounds and vibrations became louder he became increasingly

concerned and approached the living room window to look for fire engines. Looking

down, he caught sight of vast flames engulfing the building from below. Terrified, he

ran to the bedroom to wake rue up. We went back to the window to look again, then left

the flat immediately and ran towards the stairs.

1 0. When we reached the fire door exit we ran into a fire officer on the other side, who told

us to return to our flat. I was appalled and shouted at him, questioning why we were

being told to go back when the fire was coming up. The fire officer reiterated his

instructions but we refused to return to the flat and instead ran past him down the stairs.

As we reached the 9th or 10th floor, the smoke became suddenly heavier. Wee struggled

to breathe and to see ahead down the stairs but we managed to make it to the ground

floor, with the guidance of one fire officer who pointed us in the correct direction down.

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On the 3rd floor, we passed two elderly men who were unable to move quickly enough

to overtake the spreading flames. We believe these residents to be dead.

1 1. It was about 1.30am when we managed to escape the building. At this time there were

still a number of people watching in horror from the ground, before the crowds were

asked to back away at around 2am. In the half an hour that we remained on the ground

directly under the building, we watched helplessly as fellow residents tried and failed to

escape the flames.

12. I started filming the fire on my mobile phone. I could see that the flames had already

engulfed our flat window on the fifteenth floor and I could see flaming debris falling off

the tower. The flames were raging and started to spread around the tower.

13. We feared for the people we knew were still in the tower. We started calling everybody

we knew was in there, including Sied's cousin Mohammed Tucco and my friend Nora

but we could not get through to them. When Sied informed a firefighter he could not get

through to his cousin Mohammed Tucco, the firefighter responded to say they didn't

have a crane in London and that they had ordered one from outside of London and that

we would have to be patient. The firefighter also said the water hose could not go past

the ninth floor. Both Sied and I were in shock.

14. At around 3am, we were asked to move back. We continued to watch helplessly until

we decided to go to Sied's mother's place in Shepherds Bush and arrived around 11 am.

We rested for a couple of hours before returning back to the tower. The tower was still

burning at 6pm the day after so we returned to Sied's mother's place and stayed the

night.

15. On the 16th of June, both Sied and I went to the Rugby Club and we were moved to the

Holiday Inn on Gloucester Road where we stayed for a week. We were later moved

around hotels and eventually offered permanent accommodation recently.

Aftermath and impact

16. My fiancée and I are now suffering from arising from what we experienced that

night and what we saw. I frequently suffer sleepless nights and, when I do sleep, I

regularly have nightmares. I am presently undergoing It is

additionally difficult to re-adjust to normality when we still have no permanent home.

Grenfell Tower had been our home for a number of years.

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17. We were eventually told that Sied's cousin Mohammed and his family had died in the

fire, together with my friend Nora and her family.

The Inquiry

18. Both Sled and I are angry that so many questions about the immediate causes of and

response to the tragedy remain unanswered. We are particularly troubled by the fire

brigade's instructions to residents to return to their flats. My fiancée and I are young and

mobile compared to other residents so we were able to force past the firemen, who were

physically resisting many residents' exit. Many of those on floors below us who were

older and less physically able did not have the strength to push past the fire officers and

run for survival. In addition, we feel that many residents were not alerted to the fire as

quickly as they could have been because fire engines that arrived at the scene did so

silently, without sounding their sirens. It was only because Said was awake that we were

able to act so quickly, before the flat was consumed by the flames.

19. We particularly wish to comment on our experiences of fire safety in the building,

which gave rise to very grave concerns. Our fire alarms had been reported as non-

functioning and indeed two days before the fire we were subject to a purported fire

safety which must, if conducted properly, have established that our fire alarms were not

working.

Statement of truth

I believe the facts and matters stated in this witness statement are true.

I confirm I am willing for this statement to form part of the evidence before the Inquiry and

published on the Inquiry's website.

Signed.

Dated .R-62-4 ° 5 (

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