Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Grenfell: Uncovered’ is a documentary that delves deep into the reality behind the tragic fire that engulfed the titular residential tower in Kensington in London, England, on June 14, 2017. This Olaide Sadiq-directed original actually details everything from what led to this fateful blaze to how it spread across the entire structure to the heartbreaking and ongoing aftermath of it all. Amongst those to thus feature here are the Gomes family, who had been residing in apartment 183 on the 21st floor at the time – their experience is one of both grit as well as loss.
The Gomes Family Initially Didn’t Think They Were in Any Danger
Originally from Funchal in Madeira, Portugal, it was in the spring of 2007 when Marcio Gomes, his wife Andreia Perestrelo, and their two daughters, Luana and Megan, moved into the Grenfell Tower. As working-class individuals, they were genuinely proud of where they stood, with Luana in particular loving her bedroom since it gave her a view of the entire city, including the London Eye. She, just like her parents and her 2-year-younger sister, loved it, and since she had been residing there since she was 2, she believed it to be her true home.
Marcio, Andreia, Luana, and Megan still vividly remember that they’d all gone out to dinner on the evening of June 13, 2017, to enjoy the summer, and everything was perfectly normal. So, when they returned home, they all got ready for bed and fell asleep, only to be woken shortly after 1 am by their neighbor Helen and their young daughter Lulya. They were the ones who informed them of the fire, and Marcio immediately invited them inside to give them shelter and called the London Fire Brigade to get more details and see whether they needed to evacuate or stay put.
Despite the rising smoke, Marcio felt no danger at the time, especially since the officials also told him that he should stay put and that firefighters would soon come to get them. Nevertheless, as the smoke turned thicker and got blacker, he decided to fill in the tub and place several blankets and towels there, just as a safety measure, because his wife was 7 months pregnant and asthmatic. Even his young daughter, Megan, whom the family had let sleep in so as not to raise the alarms, was asthmatic, so he just wanted to take extra precautions.
The Gomes Family Barely Made it Out of the Fire
As time passed, Marcio called the London Fire Brigade several times, only to be told to stay put each time, not knowing that the fire had engulfed one side of the building entirely. What was supposed to be a partial fire on the 4th floor and put out within 15 minutes had traveled all the way to the top, owing to the aluminum-plastic cladding on the outside of the building. It was around 3 am when Marcio made another call, only to suddenly see the fire racing towards his apartment from the window, and that’s when the dispatcher instructed him to leave.
The dispatched remained with Marcio on the line the entire time, so it is well documented that the family, Helen, and Lulya, subsequently covered themselves with the wet blankets before leaving. Every few moments, he was telling them to keep going and not stop despite the thick smoke making him gag – it was so dark he couldn’t even see a foot ahead of him, so all he had was his voice. Little did he know that his 12-year-old daughter, carrying her dog, was actually behind him, slow from the trauma of stepping over the unconscious bodies already in the stairwell, that is, until he heard her calling for him.
Luana soon fell unconscious and had to let go of her dog. By this point, though, firefighters had managed to find them, so despite Marcio’s best efforts to climb back up with them to find his little girl, he was forced to go down. Thankfully, Luana was quickly found and brought down, which is when they learned that not only had Helen and Lulya safely made it down too, but so had Andreia and Megan. However, their relief was brief since Luana had to be resuscitated right there on the field, following which the family was all placed in an ambulance and rushed to the King’s College Hospital to be treated.
The Gomes Family is Still Fighting for Justice
It was in the hospital that the gravity of the situation hit the family, as Andreia, Luana, and Megan were immediately admitted owing to the damage to their lungs from the toxic fumes. They all actually had to be placed in an induced coma for several weeks, during which Marcio was told that his wife’s situation was a lot more complicated owing to her pregnancy. In the end, while she was still in a coma, the doctors had to perform a c-section to deliver her baby boy, whom the family had already named Logan in their excitement, but he was stillborn. He became the youngest victim of this strategy, and it was left to Marcio to deliver this news to his family once they awoke.
Since then, the Gomes family has been battling unimaginable grief, trauma, and survivor’s guilt, especially as the beginning of it was laced with uncertainty because they didn’t have a home either. They spent ten months in hotels and Airbnbs before they could find a new permanent place to call home, but nothing was the same as before for them both internally and externally. Unfortunately, instead of bringing the family closer together, this entire ordeal pulled them apart, owing to their different ways of dealing with their emotions, and it eventually led to Marcio and Andreia’s divorce in 2021.
Marcio has reportedly since moved back in with his mother in the city, whereas Andreia remained in the new home they had found alongside their daughters. In other words, while they all continue to reside in London, England, they lead very different lives at the moment, especially with Luana and Megan now being adults who prefer to remain well away from the limelight. All we know is that Luana is 20 as of writing, whereas Megan is 18, so they are both likely focused on their further studies while hoping for justice. Even their parents have made statements against the organizations allegedly responsible for spreading the fire in the hopes of attaining justice one day, but to no avail as of writing. They also seem to be dedicated to keeping the memories of Logan alive in their hearts, which is why they do not shy away from speaking about the ordeal.
Read More: Brian Martin: Where is the Fire Safety Expert Now? Grenfell Update
