The man 'whose faulty fridge started tower inferno': Neighbour reveals how Ethiopian taxi driver raised the alarm when deadly blaze started in his fourth-floor kitchen
- Behailu Kebede raised the alarm as the Grenfell Tower inferno began to spread, his neighbours have said
- Father of one, a taxi driver from Ethiopia, discovered the fire in his fourth floor kitchen ahead of blaze
- Mr Kebede banged on a neighbour's door and alerted her to the fire, potentially saving many lives
- Tower block resident Maryam Adam said he knocked on her door to warn her at 12.50am on Tuesday night
- At 12.54am, a resident called 999 and the first engines arrived at the scene in west London within six minutes
- After 15 minutes, most of the tower was alight, 30 minutes later the building was engulfed in flames
This is the mini-cab driver whose faulty fridge is alleged to have started the Grenfell Tower inferno.
Behailu Kebede, a father of one, raised the alarm after flames took hold in his flat at number 16 on the fourth floor.
Maryann Adam, 41, who lived at number 14, told how Mr Kebede banged on her front door in the early hours of Wednesday to tell her that there was a fire in his kitchen.
She said: 'He knocked on the door, and he said there was a fire in his flat. It was exactly 12.50am because I was sleeping and it woke me up.
'The fire was small in the kitchen. I could see it because the flat door was open. There was no alarm.'
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Raised alarm: Behailu Kebede, a father of one, pictured, whose faulty fridge started the Grenfell Tower inferno and raised the alarm, a neighbour claims
Faulty fridge: Mr Kebede, pictured, banged on his neighbour's door, potentially saving hundreds of lives – after flames took in the kitchen of his fourth floor flat
Firefighters were still damping down the building today. It was deemed unsafe for them to enter until experts have assessed it
The 27-storey Grenfell building, which was built in 1974 but refurbished last year, has an average of six flats per floor lived in by council tenants and a smaller number of private owners or tenants - fire had largely engulfed it in around 15 minutes
Mr Kebede friend Eshete Meried said the 44-year-old taxi driver originally from Ethiopia, escaped the building - but was still in shock.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Meried said: 'Behailu did raise the alarm, that is what I am hearing.
'He is fine but he is not in a position to talk about anything right now. I understand that he in a temporary shelter, staying with friends.'
Another friend said Mr Kebede had spoken to police who are investigating the fire.
Maryam left her phone with her belongings in her flat and has been unable to check on other residents. She later attended the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after feeling dizzy, but was given the all-clear.
Speaking today from emergency accommodation close to the scene of the disaster, Mr Kebede told of his distress at witnessing the very beginning of the inferno, which it is feared to claimed more than 100 lives.
He told MailOnline: 'I am very upset'. Asked whether the fire started in his flat by MailOnline Mr Kebede replied: 'I'm busy, I'm busy. Goodbye.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said today: 'The investigation is ongoing.'
Mr Kebede's identity emerged today as:
- The official death toll was raised to 17, but is expected to soar as rescuers piece their way through the ruined flats where more than 400 people were living when the fire ripped through.
- Prime Minister Theresa May visited the site and ordered a full public inquiry into the blaze after it was claimed ministers were warned over the cladding suspected to have helped the fire spread.
- Two young girls, part of a family of five who lived on the tower's 20th floor, were found by relatives in a London hospital. Their mother, father and six-month-old baby sister are still missing.
- Three generations of one family are missing after three girls, a mother and father and grandmother were caught up in the blaze.
- Bosses of the company running the building and those who carried out recent refurbishment work were challenged to explain whether new cladding led it to go up 'like a firelighter' in around 15 minutes.
- More than £1 million has been raised to help those affected by the fire, while volunteers and charities have helped feed and shelter people who could not return to their homes.
- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, who live in the London borough, donated to the fund set up to help those affected, and the Queen offered her condolences to victims' families.
Dozens of residents at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London, are feared dead — just a year after a £10million refurbishment of the block that developers said was safe.
Saved lives: Mr Kebede, pictured on holiday, would have saved lives by alerting his pregnant neighbour Maryann Adam, 41, that a fire had started in his flat at number 16
Prime Minister Theresa May visited the site of the burnt-out building this morning before ordering a full public inquiry
Rescue workers have reached the top floor of the building, but have been unable to enter any flats or rooms, because the structure is so unstable
Experts suspect cladding added to the outside of the 1970s tower block may have helped the fire spread so quickly
Chaos and confusion hit the block as the fire began in Mr Kebede's and quickly took hold. It reached the top floor of the 27-story block within just 15 minutes.
Witnesses watched helplessly as people trapped in smoke-filled flats took it in turns to suck breaths of air through windows designed to open only fractionally.
Trapped residents flashed torches, their mobile phones and even fairy lights from their windows in a desperate attempt to attract the attention of rescuers.
One witness said: 'People were taking it in turns to get air from the window, and flashing their phones, and then the fire just took them.
'You could hear people yelling from the top, 'Help, get my children out!' and you are just standing there, and watching people die, burning…'
Undertakers remove bodies from Grenfell Tower yesterday. But the recovery of the dead is likely to take several more days
A body wrapped up in a blanket, obscured by MailOnline, lies in the ground floor of the White City tower block largely destroyed by fire over night
It is believed the first six people to be confirmed dead were those who had jumped or fallen.
One resident wept as he described how people 'just threw their kids out, screaming 'save my children'.' Another said his mother stepped over a dead body to escape the building.
One man claimed he saw a child who was on fire leap from the 22nd floor, adding: 'He walked to the window, and he jumped.'
It emerged today that a six-month-old baby is among the missing. The baby girl's mother, Farah Hamdan, and father, Omar Belkadi, have also not been seen since the fire but her older sisters, eight-year-old Malek Belkadi and Tamzin, six, were found in a London hospital.
A family of six are also missing after they were caught up in the blaze. Relatives are searching for Nadia, 29, and Bassem Choucair, 38, their three young girls, Mierna, 13, Zaynab, ten, and Fatima, three, and grandmother Sirra.
Five-year-old Isaac Shawo was also lost as his family tried to flee their 18th floor flat. He was holding the hand of a neighbour but disappeared as his parents and brother Luca, three, stumbled down a fire escape.
Little Tamzin Belkadi, six, (left) and her older sister Malek (right) have been located in a hospital by relatives after their family went missing in the Grenfell Tower fire
Read more at Visit the Dailymail Man-faulty-fridge-started-Grenfell-Tower-inferno.html
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