A quick-thinking mother saved the lives of her family by deliberately flooding her bathroom during yesterday's fire at Grenfell Tower in West London.
Natasha Elcock, her boyfriend and daughter, six, found themselves trapped on the 11th floor of the tower block which was engulfed by flames on Wednesday morning and she said she rang for help "almost 100 times", according to The Sun.
When emergency services told them to stay put, quick-thinking Natasha deliberately ran her bath to overflow, soaking the floor to keep the flames at bay and buy her family some time.
Credit: PA
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"I let the bathroom flood. It kept the flat damp. It may have saved our lives," the heroic mother explained in The Sun.
Natasha, a John Lewis worker and resident for 20 years, said: "We tried the door but it was too hot.
"We had our little girl on the wet floor and we went to the coldest room.
"The door was buckling and the windows bubbling and cracking. It was terrifying."
Prior to their escape, the trio had obeyed commands to stay where they were for 90 minutes.
The blaze broke out just before 1am on Wednesday and quickly tore through the large West London block of flats.
The fire has killed 12 people so far, with several more casualties expected to be announced in the coming days.
Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "Sadly I can confirm that there are now 12 people that have died that we know of.
"I do anticipate that the number of fatalities will sadly increase beyond those 12."
It is understood that "several hundred" people would have been in the block when the fire broke out, most of them sleeping.
The tower had around 120 flats. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
During the inferno, trapped residents came to their windows - some holding children. One witness said a baby was caught by a member of the public after being dropped from the tower block.
London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner, Steve Apter, said there were "still pockets of fire yet to be extinguished in places particularly difficult to reach" but "almost all" of the building had been searched.
Checks have been carried out on the building and it is not in danger of collapsing, London Fire Brigade said.
Paul Munakr, who lives on the seventh floor, managed to escape.
"As I was going down the stairs, there were firefighters, truly amazing firefighters, that were actually going upstairs, to the fire, trying to get as many people out the building as possible," he told the BBC.
Eyewitness Jody Martin said: "I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams.
"I was yelling at everyone to get down and they were saying, 'We can't leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors'."
London Fire Brigade said it had rescued 65 people as flames engulfed the block, and had managed to reach all 24 floors, though a full search of the building has not been completed.
NHS England said 74 patients were treated in hospitals across London. Of the 34 who remain in hospital, 18 are in critical care. Volunteers and charities have also helped to feed and shelter people who could not return to their homes overnight.
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Words: Paddy Maddison
Featured Image Credit: Facebook / PA