‘I kissed her goodnight, not realising I'd never see her again'

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, one survivor remembers the best friend she lost

- SUSANNA GALTON

Munira Mahmoud, 37, was living in Grenfell Tower in London’s North Kensington with her family when the blaze claimed 72 lives, including that of Munira’s best friend Rania and her two children. Munira, who has since collaborated on a cookbook with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, now lives in west London with her husband Mohammed, 39, father-in-law Ahmed, 89, and three kids aged nine, five, and three months.

It seems like a whole lifetime ago – not just four years – since I was living on the fifth floor of Grenfell Tower. Back then, my days were spent looking after my son, then five, and daughter, then 18 months, as well as being a full-time carer for my father-in-law, who has dementia, while my husband Mohammed worked as a security guard at Heathrow Airport.

Ahmed, my father-in-law, had lived in the block for 40 years and knew everyone. It was a friendly community – neighbours popped in to give him his medication or food if I needed to go out. I knew everyone on our floor, but my best friend Rania lived on the 23rd floor with her husband Hassan and their two children Fethia, four, and Hania, three. We were so close, she called me ‘Mum’.

With our husbands often working, we ate together most evenings, taking it in turns to cook. On 13 June 2017, I’d offered to make dinner so she could tidy her home before Hassan flew back to London from abroad the following week.

We fed the kids, chatting as they played, then Rania took them upstairs to bed. As we kissed and hugged goodbye I never dreamed that evening would be the last one I would spend with Rania and her children.