Residents have told how they had to step over bodies as people fell unconscious from smoke on their way down the stairs. Picture: PHOTO / Adrian DENNIS

Malek Belkadi, 8, and her sister Tamzin, 6, were identified in hospital after frantic friends mounted a massive search effort to find them.

Their parents, Farah Hamdan and Omar Belkadi, as well as baby sister, are still unaccounted for

One of the girls is reportedly sedated while the other is in a coma. Farah Hamdan’s cousin Adel Chaoui, blamed unsuitable protocols for causing unnecessary pain for families involved.

“The police are following protocol they have in place during terrorist incidents.

“There needs to be separate protocol for civil disasters. That’s what’s going wrong here,” he told The Telegraph.

“They’re still treating everyone as suspects.”

“We have a six and an eight-year-old - one is traumatised and the other is in a coma. When she went into hospital she was just screaming. And rather than trying to identify who these children are and who their parents are, protocol means they can’t identify them at this time.

Malek Belkadi is in hospital and was found just metres away from her sister.Source:Supplied

Tamzin Belkadi. Her parents and brother are also missing. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

He said his family had been asking around hospitals and it wasn’t until one “took pity” and gave them some information that they realised the children just several metres apart were related. “Our brother is wandering around the wards around and sees at a child two beds down and found that it was her sibling.

“One of them is in a coma, and the other wouldn’t stop screaming because she was so traumatised so has been sedated.

“The hospitals had no idea who these children were- they didn’t even realise they were related”.

Earlier, witness Ousama Itani had shared pictures of the two girls on national television asking for news about their father.

He said the shock of watching neighbours screaming for their lives has not yet sunk in and they are focused on reuniting families.

“It was traumatic to say the least to hear people screaming ‘help, help my children’ and to see people at the windows. I watched personally as a person stood at a window for three hours between the hours of three and six in the morning. When there was still electricity we see people turning their lights on and off on the top floors. It’s been quite a shock.”

Witnesses have gone into overdrive to search for the missing. Picture: Adrian DENNISSource:AFP

FIRST VICTIM IS SYRIAN REFUGEE

The first victim of the Grenfell Tower apartment blaze has been named as a Syrian refugee studying in the UK who was trapped inside with his brother.

Mohammad Alhajali, 23, had tried to leave the block with his sibling, Omar, when he became overwhelmed by smoke and was forced to retreat back inside their apartment on the 14th floor. reports.

He was stuck there for two hours while firefighters tried to access the building but were unable to get that high. Family friend, Abdulaziz Almashi, said he phoned relatives in Syria to say he feared he would not make it.

MORE: Friends and family search for loved ones

“He sent a message to family in Syria in his final moments just saying ‘the fire is here now, goodbye’,” Mr Almashi told the newspaper.

It’s believed his brother is recovering in hospital after making it out of the building.

Friends shared Mr Alhajali’s picture online with Mirna Suleiman saying “god had bigger plans” for the “beautiful soul”.

A resident that was trapped on the 14th floor has been named as the first victim of the fire. Picture: Victoria Jones/PA via AP.Source:AP

Volunteers sort the massive number of donations. Picture: Tolga AKMENSource:AFP

At least seventeen people died in the blaze after the 24-storey block became engulfed by fire. Police have not yet confirmed how many are unaccounted for, although with 120 apartments inside, the number could be in the hundreds.

Friends and relatives continue to search for their missing loved ones with tragic stories interspersed by incredible tales of survival.

Ahmed Challah, who told news.com.au he was looking for a missing family of five, said so far four of them have been accounted for with one son remaining missing.

“What the emergency services did yesterday was amazing” he said. However he also backed claims of confusion, saying many people were taken to hospital based on a list of the apartments they were recovered from rather than their names as many were unconscious.

It has led to uncertainty for authorities over who exactly remains unaccounted for, he said.

Firefighters were unable to get above the 14th floor immediately after the blaze. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Community members light candles for those who died in the fire. Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images.Source:Getty Images

‘WE HAD TO STEP OVER BODIES’

Father Marcio Gomes, 38, has told how he helped his seven-months pregnant wife and two daughters to safety only to realise one of his daughters had fallen unconscious on the stairs.

“I saw we had lost my daughter,” he told The Sun.

“So I didn’t leave the block. I went back up to try and get her.

“We got separated from our daughter because we couldn’t see anything.

“She was halfway down. She had stopped. She couldn’t move any more and had fallen unconscious,” he said before he ran up to retrieve her.

“You couldn’t see anything. We had to step over bodies with my young daughters and my seven months pregnant wife.”

Another mum Natasha Elcock told how she ran a bath to flood the floors and save her family after being trapped on the 11th floor.

“I let the bathroom flood. It kept the flat damp. It may have saved our lives,” the 39-year-old said as they obeyed authorities to stay put for 90 minutes.

“We tried the door but it was too hot.

“We had our little girl on the wet floor and we went to the coldest room.

“The door was buckling and the windows bubbling and cracking. It was terrifying.”