Posted by By Matthew Beard on
The son of the Nigerian woman who spoke so movingly about her bereavement and the evil of the bombers has been confirmed among the dead.
The son of the Nigerian woman who spoke so movingly about her bereavement and the evil of the bombers has been confirmed among the dead.
Anthony Fatayi-Williams, 25, was killed in the explosion on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square as he made his way to work for an oil company in the City after helping those caught up in the Tube bombings.
On Monday morning, his mother Marie, an oil executive, flew in from Nigeria to deliver an emotional speech at the bombsite that has become one of the defining moments of the tragedy. "How many mothers' hearts must be maimed?" she asked, paying touching tribute to her son as a "world citizen".
Friends of Mr Fatayi-Williams, of Hendon, north London, described him as an "inspirational" young man who looked after his two younger sisters, one of who had Down syndrome, and in his rare leisure time was the "maddest guy there was".
And the family of Shahara Islam, a devout Muslim from Whitechapel, east London, remembered her in the two-minute silence, one week after she died. The 20-year-old had been on her way to work as a cashier at the Co-operative Bank in Angel when the Tube closures forced her to board the No 30 bus.
At midday, hundredslined the streets of the East End and bowed their heads in silence along with workers across the capital.
Shahara's uncle, Nazmul Hasan, spoke of his disbelief at the "idiot kids" behind Britain's first suicide bomb attacks. "I'm speechless," he said. "I do not know what to say about them. We are just trying to figure out those kids and we can't." Mr Hasan, 25, said Shahara's family were coping "quite well" in the circumstances.
Prayers were said for Shahara and her family who are regular worshippers at the mosque of the London Muslim Centre and plan to hold her funeral service there.
The centre's director, Dilowar Khan, said: "People are very shocked and sad. Almost everyone was crying here when at last her body was identified by the police. We saw a lot of tears. We are going to get thousands of people round here [for the funeral]," he said.
He said many non-Muslims in the community had voiced their support and the mosque had received a lot of e-mails from people wanting to make clear that they were not blaming Muslims in general for the atrocities.
"But at the same time we have received a number of hate-mails from people who probably hated Muslims anyway," he said.
And Phil Beer, 22, a hair stylist, was identified by a DNA test as being among those who died in the Piccadilly line bomb blast near King's Cross.
He had been on his way to work with his friend Patrick Barnes, a colleague at the Sanrizz salon in Knightsbridge. Mr Barnes, also 22, survived and is being treated for severe burns and tendon damage.
Mr Beer, who had started the stylist's job just two weeks ago, lived in Borehamwood with his parents and his sister Stacy, who was also on the train and injured in the blast.
For a while his parents had taken encouragement from the fact that in the carriage Phil was heard to have said: "I am OK. I am OK." His employers said in a statement yesterday: "Phil's family have played a heartbreaking and exhausting waiting game for the past week, never losing hope that their beloved son and brother would be found safe and well.
"We would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the Beer family, as well as to the numerous families who lost a loved ones in last week's terrible tragedy.
"Phil was a born entertainer who lived life to the full. He had a fantastic personality that was full of character and was loved by his colleagues and countless friends alike.
"He will be greatly missed by everyone whose lives he touched