MP, residents and mayor want investigation into possible design flaws
By James Cusick and Martin Williams

PARENTS trapped in a burning tower block in south London during a blaze which claimed the lives of six people, including three children, screamed for help at their windows and were desperately trying to get their children to safety, eyewitnesses said last night.

The graphic tales of horror came as police described the fire that spread through the council-owned Camberwell building as "potentially suspicious".

One firefighter remained in hospital last night, but his condition is not thought to be serious.

It also emerged that one young mother who died with her two young children made a desperate last phone call to neighbours as smoke engulfed them.

Brazilian Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her son Filipe, three, and daughter Thais, four, died trapped in their bathroom, where they were seeking refuge from the flames, heat and poisonous fumes.

Dayana's friend and neighbour Yolimar Caboz, 33, recalled their tragic phone conversations as the fire took hold on the 11th floor.

"When the fire started, I called Dayana and said, Where are you? Please come down quickly'. She said, I can't go down, there's too much smoke'.

"I told her she would be ok. I told her help was coming. She was staying calm because she didn't want to scare the children, she was keeping calm for them. She said, I am ok, I am'.

"She sounded sad, she was trying to stay in control but she was so scared. The children were silent, they were quiet. That was the last time I spoke to her."

There are now calls for all tower blocks built throughout Britain in the 1960s with central stairwells and no alternative fire escape routes to be the subject of a major national inquiry. Ian Wingfield, of Southwark Borough Council, called the blaze "the worst tower block disaster in London's history". He said that with similar designs in cities across the UK a full public investigation was urgently needed.

The local MP, Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader and Leader of the Commons, said there would be an investigation into the construction of the tower block and the fire escape design of the building. London Mayor Boris Johnson supported her call.

Nick Collins, assistant commissioner at the London Fire Brigade, said the condition and construction of the block, the lives lost and the as-yet undiscovered cause of the fire made it "one of the most significant fires in some time".

He said firefighters had faced "traumatic conditions that included having to deal with the deaths of children" and would receive counselling if needed.

The fire is believed to have started on Friday afternoon on the ninth floor of the block in Sceaux Gardens.

At its peak, the fire had spread to cover floors four to 12. Locals described seeing residents screaming for help as the blaze spread. For many there was no route to the ground and safety. Victims were seen trying to cover their children's faces with damp cloths to prevent smoke inhalation.

All six who died were from the 11th floor. Police named the others victims as Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter, Michelle and Catherine Hickman, 31.

Mrs Udoka had telephoned her husband, Mbet, from their flat. Trapped with their young baby as smoke engulfed their 11th-floor home, she stayed on the line talking and crying to her husband until she lost consciousness. Mbet's cousin said he tried to break through police lines at the tower block to rescue the family, but was held back by officers. Mrs Udoaka was taken to Kings College Hospital where she later died.

The Metropolitan Police said they were treating the fire at the 12-storey Lakanal House as a "crime scene".

Yesterday, as fire investigators with masks covering their faces continued to sift through scorched and destroyed flats, nearby residents were concerned that their own homes, with similar designs, could also be at risk. A Jamaican couple who have lived on a nearby estate for seven years said: "This was something waiting to happen. Fires