Woman who died alongside her son in Grenfell Tower was 10 weeks pregnant

'We were all excited but the fire took the excitement away from us,' says cousin

Berkti Haftom, 29, and her son Biruk Haftom, 12, died in the Grenfell Tower fire (PA)

A woman who died alongside her 12-year-old son in the Grenfell Tower fire was 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the blaze, the inquiry into the tragedy has heard.

Berkti Haftom, 29, was on the 18^th floor of the building with her son Biruk when the fire broke out.

“Biruk was so happy that his mother was going to have a baby,” a statement by Ms Haftom’s sisters at the inquiry said.

The 12-year-old’s cousin Hemen Yemen, 7, remembered him in a video message shown to the probe as ”very sweet and handsome”.

“We were all excited but the fire took the excitement away from us," she said.

“I was very happy but my happiness has gone because of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

“I miss him so much I still don’t know what to do without him.”

Another cousin, Simon Michael, 10, said Biruk always looked after him.

He said Biruk was always good with secrets, adding: “Let me tell you a secret, I wish I was with you there that night, but don’t tell my mum

“I won’t forget you, brother.”

The probe also heard how Ms Haftom had been planning to bring her eldest son, Nahom Tesfay, 18, to the UK.

She had been forced to leave him with his grandmother in their home country of Eritrea when he was two years old, after the country went to war with Ethiopia. It was too dangerous to take him with her, the inquiry was told.

“When my grandmother died in 2016, everything changed,” the teenager said. ”She was really worried about me because I couldn’t cope on my own. Since that time she kept calling me to promise me, saying, ‘you will soon be with me’,” he said.

“When I remember her voice you cannot even imagine how I feel. I was looking forward to living with my mum and little brother but the fire in Grenfell Tower on June 14 2017 changed everything. I didn’t see my mother for 15 years.”

He was held by relatives as he cried.

Tributes to the 72 victims are scheduled to finish on Wednesday, before the inquiry moves to offices in Holborn for evidential sessions.