A survivor of the tower block blaze that killed six people claimed that the emergency services failed to evacuate families until at least 90 minutes after the discovery of the fire.

Rasheed Nuhu, his wife and two young daughters were trapped in the bathroom of an 11th-floor flat alongside five of those who died.

He took a chance and got his family to the balcony from where they were rescued on Friday afternoon, but by the time the fire crews knew about the others trapped in the bathroom it was too late to save them.

Relatives of some victims claimed yesterday that they had been speaking to them on the telephone for up to two hours before they were overcome by smoke at Lakanal House in Camberwell, southeast London.

Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter, Michelle, and Dayana Francisquini, 26, her son Filipe, 3, and daughter Thais, 4, died in the flat where the Nuhu family had been seeking refuge. Catherine Hickman, 31, died in a neighbouring flat.

Mr Nuhu said yesterday: “I was surprised they didn’t get to us sooner than they did because of the trust you have in the British emergency services.”

Mr Nuhu said that when he reached the balcony he could see a fire engine waiting below in the street below and screamed: “Get the ladder, get the ladder.” He was joined on the balcony by his wife Fatima and their daughters Mariam, 3, and Yasmeenah, 18 months, who had fled the bathroom.

Mr Nuhu told Channel 4 News that he was traumatised by the deaths of those he had left behind. “We could have stayed in there,” he said. “I did not go outside to try and get away myself. I went out to do something [in] readiness when the need arose. Because of the fireball I saw I had to do something.”

Investigators are treating the cause of the blaze, which appeared to have started in a ninth-floor flat, as suspicious. The fire spread to flats on the eleventh and fifth floors, possibly because of sparks and debris igniting curtains that were blowing out of open windows.

The single staircase in the middle of the building is at the centre of the investigation after doubts were raised over whether escape routes and fire prevention measures were adequate.

A relative of one of the victims said he had been on the telephone to her for two hours trying to reassure her that she would be rescued.

Eno Udoaka, 31, said he had told Helen Udoaka to stay in the flat with her baby because the fire brigade would reach her soon. “I could tell she did not want to lose her baby. She was a very strong woman and I think if it had not been for the baby she would have got out and lived.”

Mr Udoaka said: “The fire station is only five minutes away from the flats so why did it take so long for them to come? Why did Helen and her baby have to suffer such a horrible death?”

Mrs Francisquini’s husband Rafael Cervi, 31, had returned home when he heard about the blaze but was prevented from going inside the block by fire crews. He said that the last words he heard from his wife were in a telephone call when she told him she was struggling to breathe.

Assistant Commissioner Nick Collins, of the London Fire Brigade, said yesterday that firefighters were at the scene within five minutes of the first call and started tackling the blaze immediately. He said that it was “very difficult” to be conclusive about the cause of the blaze and it may take “some weeks at the very least”.

A brigade spokesman said that they had sent eighteen fire engines and nine rescue units. One firefighter was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.

“We gained access to the building as soon as we got there,” he said. “The time it took to reach the top of the building was simply the result of the firefighting operation. They progressed as quickly as they could.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Here’s one way MPs can redeem themselves
• Analysis: introducing the word 'failure'
• BA to cut tenth of jobs after disastrous summer