A frantic mum threw her baby from a ninth floor window to save him from dying in the overnight inferno that engulfed their 24-storey residence.
The Grenfell House in west London had succumbed to a fire incident which broke out in the early hours of Wednesday (today).
So far, six people have been declared dead, and the death toll is expected to rise, as 74 others – 20 of them critical – are being treated in hospital.
“The windows were slightly ajar, a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby.
“Somebody did, a gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby,” an eyewitness said.
The witness said the caring mum wrapped the baby in what seemed like a sheet or blanket and threw the young baby out of the window.
“A member of the public, a guy, ran forward and just miraculously grabbed the baby at the right moment and then the shadow, I assume the mother, went backwards and that was the last we saw.”
She also claimed a resident made a “homemade parachute” to lower himself out of the window as the fire raged.
Another witness said he saw a “child on fire” jump from the 22nd floor of the tower block.
He said: “The fire started happening on third floor, we called the fire bridge who came 20 minutes later, and then the whole thing just went up.
“An hour-and-a-half later, I saw a kid on the 22nd floor on fire, he walked to the window, and he jumped.”
The blaze was described as being like “hell on earth.”
Others described harrowing scenes as the fire went from “zero to 100″ after it erupted at around 1.16am.
Some claim the fire started on the fourth floor and ripped through the 24-storey building, which is home to hundreds of families.
Flames leaped out of the side of the building as the structure was engulfed by the inferno.
Stunned eyewitnesses have described scenes of carnage as frantic residents trapped inside the block attempted to flee.
Horrified Samira Lamrani told the Press Association: “People were starting to appear at the windows, frantically banging and screaming.”
Eddie Daffarn was on the 16th floor of the block when he received a call from a neighbour telling him to “get out.”
The 55-year-old, who was pictured in the aftermath wearing a blanket, said: “I ran out to find where the exit was and eventually a fireman was lying on the ground and touched my leg and he was able to help me into the fire escape.
“If I had been in that stairwell for any longer, I don’t think I would have found the escape exit. You couldn’t see a thing. I was choking badly, it was a moment of life and death for me.
“I didn’t have that much time to think; it was only when I got into the doorway I realised how serious it was.
“I’m very grateful that the London Fire Brigade were there to help me. I couldn’t see anything. I was choking. I think my neighbour who called me saved my life.”
One bystander, known as only Tamara, said she could hear people screaming for help as the blaze ripped through the tower block.
She told BBC News: “We could hear people screaming ‘Help me;’ so me and my brother, with some other people who live in the area, ran over to the estate to where you could still get underneath it and there were people just throwing their kids out saying ‘Save my children.’
“The fire crew, ambulance and police couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t get in, and they were just telling them to stay where they are, and we’ll come and get you.
“But things quickly escalated beyond measure and they couldn’t go back in and get them.
“Within another 15 minutes, the whole thing was up in flames and there were still people at their windows shouting ‘Help me’.
“You could see the fire going into their houses and engulfing the last room that they were in.”
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