The powerful Grenfell Tower eyewitness accounts ahead of the final report

Here, Yahoo News has pulled together some accounts of Grenfell Tower survivors, and explains what to expect from Wednesday's report.

London, UK. 14th June 2024. Grenfell Tower on the seventh anniversary of the disaster. 72 people died when a fire broke out in the block of flats in North Kensingon, West London. Credit: Vuk Valcic/Alamy Live News
The phase two report on the Grenfell Tower fire is expected to detail the actions of corporate firms in the construction industry, the local authority, London Fire Brigade and the government. (Alamy)

More than seven years after 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire, a final report of a long-running inquiry into the blaze is set to be published on Wednesday.

The second of two reports will present findings on how the west London tower block came to be in a condition which allowed the flames to spread so quickly.

While the first report concluded that the building's cladding did not comply with building regulations and was the “principal” reason for such a rapidly spreading fire, Wednesday's report is expected to include detailed findings on the actions of corporate firms in the construction industry, the local authority, London Fire Brigade and the government.

Edward Daffarn, a former tower resident and member of the Grenfell United campaign group, said he hopes it will “highlight the institutionalised indifference that saw private companies put profit before people”.

Some survivors, however, are still doubtful that they will ever feel a true sense of justice, while others living in tower blocks across the country live in fear of another disaster.

Here, Yahoo News has pulled together some accounts of survivors and others affected by the tragedy, and explains what to expect from Wednesday's report.

Read a full breakdown of the key updates or click below to skip to each section

> No justice without people behind bars, says 12-year-old Grenfell victim’s aunt

> Wife of Grenfell hero says final inquiry report ‘is not justice for us... no one is going to jail’

> 'It could have been me': The Grenfell children who survived the blaze

> A web of blame: key findings from the second phase of the Grenfell inquiry

> Seven years after Grenfell disaster, thousands live in fear of cladding fire

London, UK. 14th June, 2023. Members of the Grenfell community and supporters are pictured beneath the Grenfell Tower and behind a United For Grenfell banner during the Grenfell Silent Walk around West Kensington. The event was organised to mark the sixth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017 as a result of which 72 people died and over 70 were injured. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry concluded in November 2022 that all the deaths in the fire were avoidable but no criminal prosecutions have yet been brought. Credit: Mark Kerrison/Alamy Live News
Members of the Grenfell community and supporters march through West Kensington. (Alamy)

Those who put profit above people’s lives must end up behind bars for justice to be served, the aunt of a child killed in the Grenfell Tower fire has said.

Sandra Ruiz said lives had been “shattered” by the 2017 blaze, with her 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez. “They know what part they played. The inquiry knows what part they played. And the police know what part they played. We understand that the Met Police are asking for a little bit of time to respond to the findings of the report, but we’ve already been waiting seven years... We’re not prepared to wait for much longer."

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30: Flora Neda, who's husband Saber Neda died in the Grenfell Tower fire, is seen between framed photographs of those killed, during a press conference by survivors on October 30, 2019 in London, England. Today, the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report was made available to the public. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Flora Neda, whose husband Saber Neda died while trying to save other residents in the Grenfell Tower fire. (Getty Images)

It’s been seven years since Flora Neda’s husband jumped to his death, landing at the foot of Grenfell Tower two minutes before she emerged from the burning building, having been carried down 23 floors by their son.

She gazes lovingly at photographs of her husband Saber Neda, 57, a former Afghan police officer, who had stayed behind to help other people trapped on their floor down the tower block’s single staircase. For Flora, the report won’t bring her comfort... “It’s not justice for us. Nobody is going to jail,” says Flora.

London, UK. 14th June, 2024. A woman reads the tributes on the memorial wall next to Grenfell Tower on the seventh anniversary of the disaster. 72 people died when a fire broke out in the block of flats in North Kensingon, West London in 2017. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/Sipa USA) Credit: Sipa US/Alamy Live News
A woman reads the tributes on the memorial wall next to Grenfell Tower on the seventh anniversary of the disaster. (Alamy)

Abem Abraham's memory of his first home is hazy, but he remembers watching the tower burn, and he remembers the best friend he lost. He wants the children who died to be remembered for their "bright dreams". "One of them wanted to be a footballer, wanted to be an engineer, wanted to be an architect. All gone in one flame," he says. It could have been me."

The cruellest part of the tragedy was losing his best friend, five-year-old Isaac Paulos. "He was my best friend from my school at the time," he says. "He was a bit older than me, like a brother. Like a big brother."

The Grenfell Tower disaster is a system failure as well as a human one. About 250 people have already been warned they may be subject to criticism – likely to include former government ministers, council leaders and corporate executives.

When this second phase of the inquiry opened, Richard Millett KC said the statements made by the various parties involved in the refurbishment amounted to “a merry-go-round of buck passing”. But the inquiry revealed a mountain of evidence.

Residents of other tower blocks fear that not enough has been done to prevent another catastrophe... One of them is Gemma Lindfield. The 45-year-old barrister is still waiting for flammable cladding to be removed from her eight-storey apartment block in east London.

Lindfield is unable to sell her flat, spending nearly £6,000 a year on higher insurance and service charges, and unwilling to move out and offer it for rent in case something happened. “It’s a national scandal.”