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Almost one year after a huge fire broke out in one of London’s apartment buildings; The Guardian chose to render homage to the victims by putting their lives under the spot light.
Located near Notting Hill in West London, the Grenfell tower, which housed families of different nationalities including Moroccan, was on fire. The incident that occurred on the 13th of June killed 71 of the building's residents.
In its digital memorial, the British newspaper referred to the Moroccan nationals who died in the tragic incident. It recalled that 6 people of the 71 victims who died in Grenfell were from Morocco. «The biggest national group other than Britons (31 victims) were Moroccans», says the Guardian.
Surprisingly, most of the deceased Moroccans are from Larache, a harbor town in the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.
In previous articles, Yabiladi reported the stories of the Moroccan families that lost their lives in the deadly blaze last June.
Nur Huda El-Wahabi, a 15-year-old student, who used to live in the 21st floor of the Grenfell Tower, died alongside her father Abdul Aziz (52), mother Fouzia (42), brother Mehdi (8) and Yasin (21). Their neighbors Farah Hamdan and Omar Belkadi who lived in the 20th floor passed away with their six-month-old toddler Leena Belkadi.
The latter is believed to be the youngest of all victims that died in the fire. «The mother Farah hamdan, and her daughters were buried in an Islamic cemetery in London». Regarding their father Omar Belkadi who also died in the blaze, Morocco’s Consul General stated that he «will be buried in Larache, Morocco», Kingdom’s Consul General, Abderrahim Beyyoud told Yabiladi in June 2017.
Honoring the victims
Khadija Khalloufi a British citizen with Moroccan descent was also found dead outside the building after being lost for days. Reports differ when it comes to the exact number of Moroccans killed in the tower. In a communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministry in June, seven people were declared dead while only six were reported by the British athorities.
To honor the victims, Larache-native Abdulaziz El Wahabi who worked as a porter was granted a memorial bench by the University College Hospital, while his daughter Nur Huda El Wahabi will be remembered forever in the book of Philip Pullman an English novelist who will name the protagonist in his new novel after Nur.
In general, the Guardian reports that the 71 victims included 18 children, one of them died before being born. The victims came from 18 different countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Italy Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Dominica, Ireland, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, and the UK.
28 women and 25 men died in the blaze, said the same source indicating that four out of the 71 victims did not live in the Grenfell tower.
