Father had to identify the bodies of wife and daughters who died in house fire on his birthday

A father whose wife and daughters died in a house fire has described having to identify their bodies at a morgue on his birthday.

Aboubacarr Drammeh, who turned 40 last week, paid tribute to his wife Fatoumatta Hydara, eight, and their daughters Fatimah and Naeemah Drammeh, aged three and one.

All three died from smoke inhalation following a fire at their first floor flat in Fairisle Close, Clifton, Nottingham, in the early hours of last Sunday.

Mr Drammeh described the past week as the “toughest” of his life, adding that he will never get over spending part of his birthday in the hospital morgue.

He said: “I had to go in there and see the bodies. That was just so difficult.’

Mr. Drammeh said he was in the process of securing visas for his family to accompany him to Minnesota in the US, where he works as a biomedical technologist.

He continued, “That’s not going to happen now and I can’t understand why.”

He said he found out about the incident at 5am before heading straight to the airport to fly to the UK.

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He added: “I’ve done this trip so many times, but the other times it was exciting because I wanted to see my family.

“This time – I still can’t remember. It’s just a blur.”

He described his wife as a “very loyal person” who was “caring” and would help “wherever she could”.

He said of his children: “They were both really happy children. They enjoyed spending time with their grandparents and got along very well as siblings.”

Dawda Dibba, 44, Fatoumatta’s uncle, said: “She was an incredible person with incredible passion. She was someone who cared deeply about people.

“As soon as she met you, you were part of the family. She was such a lively and kind person and had a really good sense of humor.

“The two children will be greatly missed. Other children in the family loved to play with them and it is very difficult to explain to them what happened.

“It broke us as a family. You can’t recover from that.’

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Bubacarr Dibba, 47, another of Fatoumatta’s uncles who flew in from Germany after the fire, added: “There are many ways to commemorate her. I will always remember her through the videos and messages she sent from the kids. She was someone who put everyone else ahead of her.

“I always thought she would pull through, that was our last hope. We had hoped until the last minute. We thought it would be a long road to recovery but we thought she would make it.

Jamie Barrow was remanded in custody for murder at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Barrow, 31, who only spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth, was ordered to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday.

District Judge Leo Pyle adjourned the case, telling Barrow: “All three of the allegations you face must be heard in the Crown Court and accordingly I am referring all three of those matters to Nottingham Crown Court.”

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