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Probe continues into flats tragedy
05.07.09
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Inquiries into how a blaze which ripped through a tower block killing six people, including a three-week-old baby girl, was able to spread so quickly are continuing.
The single staircase in the middle of the 12-storey 1960s building in Camberwell, south London, is at the centre of the investigation after doubts were raised over whether escape routes and fire prevention measures were adequate.
Tributes were paid on Sunday to those who died as the London Fire Brigade said a "unique situation" caused "one of the most significant fires in some time".
Mbet Udoaka, 37, watched helplessly as his wife Helen, 34, and three-week-old baby Michelle died in the blaze at Lakanal House on Friday night.
His cousin Mary told the Mail on Sunday his wife called him to say she was trapped in their flat on the 11th floor and he raced home from work. He stayed on the phone until his wife lost consciousness, but police and firefighters would not let him enter the burning building.
She said: "Helen was panicking and crying, but they were on the phone to each other constantly until she was too weak to cry. He was beside himself. He so wanted to run to their rescue but was stopped."
Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her son Filipe, three, also died, along with Catherine Hickman, 31. The sixth victim, who has not yet been identified, is believed to be Ms Francisquini's young daughter, named in media reports as Thais.
Ms Francisquini's husband Rafael Cervi, 31, a hotel porter from Brazil, said the last words he heard from his wife were in a phone call when she told him she was struggling to breathe. He told the Mail on Sunday: "They were what I lived for. Now everything is gone and I have nothing."
Harriet Harman, the area's MP, said people were "asking questions" about fire escape routes in the tower block. She added: "There will have to be a thorough investigation in to what caused this fire and whether the prevention was adequate."
The cause of the fire, which is believed to have started on the ninth floor, has not yet been established and officers are treating it as suspicious, police said.
