Italian couple phoned family to say thank you from 23rd floor Grenfell Tower flat as blaze took hold

A young Italian couple shared heartbreaking final phonecalls with their families as flames approached their 23rd floor flat in Grenfell Tower.

Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi, both 26, made the unimaginable calls to Italy as the blaze took hold of the doomed tower block.

The engaged couple – both architecture graduates – had arrived in London from Venice just three months ago.

In an emotional conversation with her mum at 3am, Ms Trevisan said: “Thank you for what you have done for me.”

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Mr Gottardi’s dad Giannino had been speaking to his son and his girlfriend up until the last minute, with the final contact coming in a call from Marco just after 4am.

He told Italian newspaper Il Mattino di Padova: “In the first call Marco told us not to worry, that everything was under control, that basically we must not worry.

“He was trying to minimise what happened, probably not to unsettle us but in the second call – and I can’t get this out of my head – he said there was smoke, that so much smoke was rising.

“We were on the phone until the last moment.”

He added: “At 4.07am he told us their apartment was flooded with smoke and that the situation had become an emergency.

“The communications broke down and from that moment on we no longer had any contact – the phone didn’t pick up again.”

A lawyer for the families has said that the distressing calls have left them with no hope that the couple have survived.

The death toll from the tragedy has today been confirmed at 30 people, though many more are still missing.