Mbet Udoaka watched helplessly as his wife and 3week old newborn baby died in the blaze.
The 37-year-old raced home from work after receiving a frantic call from his wife Helen, who said she was trapped in their flat with their three-week-old daughter Michelle.
He tried to rush past police and firefighters, but they blocked his way. Instead, he stayed on the phone to Helen, 34, until she lost consciousness.
Mr Udoaka’s cousin Mary said: ‘Helen was panicking, 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.’
She added: ‘Michelle was brought out at about 8pm and taken to King’s College Hospital wearing an oxygen mask. Mbet went with her. But she was dead.‘Michelle was their first child. Everyone in the family was so pleased and they were just planning the christening. They were such a loving couple.’
Another father has told of his devastation after his wife and two children were killed in the Camberwell tower block inferno in London.
Harrowing witness accounts have revealed mobile phone conversations with victims of the tragedy as they tried vainly to escape the flames.
Rafael Francisquini, 31, watched helplessly as wife Dayana, 26, daughter Thais, six, and son Filipe, three, were trapped in their 11th-floor flat.
He told the Sunday Mirror: "I have lost everything. They were my world, my two babies and my beautiful wife. They were my angels."
Police yesterday named the three other victims as Helen Udoaka, 34, her three-week-old baby Michelle and Helen's friend, Catherine Hickman, 31.
They were killed in the next-door flat.
Police are treating the fire, which started in an unoccupied ninth-floor flat on Friday afternoon, as suspicious.
Yolimar Caboz, 33, said she was on the phone to her friend and neighbour Ms Francisquini who had locked herself and her two children in their bathroom in a
bid to survive.
"Dayana told me, 'I tried to get out but the firemen told me to stay in the bathroom with the children and put wet towels on the floor'," she said.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the advice to remain inside a bathroom with wet towels at the base of the door was standard procedure.
Local MP Harriet Harman said people were "asking questions" following the tragedy at Lakanal Flats.
She said: "There will have to be a thorough investigation into what caused this fire and whether the prevention was adequate.
"There are many blocks with one central stairwell and questions will have to be asked about what happens when a fire breaks out."
Eleven residents were discharged from hospital after treatment while one person, a firefighter, remains in hospital.
His condition is not thought to be serious, however.
London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Nick Collins described the blaze as "one of the most significant fires in London for some time".
He added that firefighters were on the scene within five minutes but had faced "very difficult operational circumstances".
Several residents said the complicated layout of the flats made the process of evacuating the building difficult.
Ed Hammond, 37, an accountant who lives on the seventh floor, described the flats as "death traps".
He said: "If the fire is in the central area, you would virtually have nowhere to go."
Zahera Chaudry, 21, whose sister was in a first-floor flat when the blaze broke out, added: "These buildings should have been torn down years ago."
Witnesses described seeing those trapped inside screaming for help as more than 100 firefighters and 18 fire engines battled the blaze.
Lincent Johnson, 28, who lives across the street, said: "The people were in the windows, screaming out for help.
"There was panic, there were a lot of people screaming.
"It wasn't that big at first but it started to spread so quickly."
Speaking at the scene, Chief Superintendent Chance said the fire is being treated as suspicious.
He said officers were dealing with a "large and complex scene" and added: "The investigation is likely to take some time."
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