Pictured: teenage girl who fell to her death fleeing fire in bedroom at flat in Mile End

Died in fall: Mei Lan Duong, 17

This is the first picture of a teenage girl who fell 50ft to her death in a desperate bid to escape a fire in her bedroom.

Mei Lan Duong, 17, was seen hanging on to her fifth-storey window ledge above a parade of shops shouting for help as a crowd below begged her not to jump.

Witnesses said she tried to use a bedsheet rope to climb down but fell to the pavement.

Passersby tried to revive her but she was declared dead at the scene in Mile End, east London, at 6am yesterday.

Mei Lan Duong, 17, tried to climb to the ground using a bed sheet but fell

Minutes later firefighters broke into her family’s council flat to rescue her younger brother.

Some 50 other residents, including her parents, were evacuated - with four needing treatment for smoke inhalation.

Helal Miah, 41, who lives in a building nearby off St Paul’s Way, said he was woken at 5am by sounds of screaming.

He said: “The young girl was trying to escape because her bedroom was on fire - she was on the window ledge.

Cordon: Firefighters at the scene in St Paul's Way
Atikur Rahman @A71KUR

“I think she was trying to make some form of rope to climb down then her hair and the cloth she was holding caught fire.”

“She had no choice but to jump and she died on the spot. It was absolutely awful.”

Richard Fitzgerald, head teacher at Langdon Park School, paid tribute to the teenager calling her “one of the kindest and most considerate people”.

He added: “Her helpfulness and care for all around her made her a role model to everyone in the school.

“As well as mentoring younger students whilst at school she often came back to help others, even after leaving in 2015.

“She had so much to offer the world and will be greatly missed by all of us.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family now.”

Floral tributes and balloons left outside the flat describe the teen as a “beautiful young woman” with her “whole life ahead of her”.

One reads: “Meilan, I miss you already. I can’t believe you’re gone. I love you so much and I’m gonna miss all the laughs we had together. I hope you rest in perfect paradise beautiful.”

Another said: “Such a special friend with a heart of pure gold. You were such a beautiful young woman.”

Resident Fatou Secka, 75, said: “She was a lovely cute girl, she was always helping her little brother go down the stairs to get in his transport.

She said she did not hear any alarms go off in the building before her neighbour woke up her floor by banging on doors.

She said: “My neighbour just banged on my door saying ‘Aunty get out, we have to go’. I saw smoke and everybody was screaming ‘No’ outside.

A Met spokesman said: “One female, believed aged 17, was found outside the property.

“She was pronounced dead at the scene. Four other people received treatment - none of them are serious.

“Enquiries into the circumstances of the fire are ongoing.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT