Toggle Search
Toggle Menu
Toggle Menu
  1. Home/
  2. World News/

At least 30 people died in the London Tower fire, figure expected to rise – UPDATE

A huge fire engulfed a 24-storey block of flats in central London on Wednesday injuring a number of people and possibly trapping some residents inside the towering inferno.

UPDATE: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth visited residents, volunteers and emergency services at a centre helping those affected by London’s tower block fire on Friday, with grandson Prince William promising to return to hear residents’ concerns.

loading...

The queen met locals on her way into the Westway Sports Centre which has been turned into a makeshift shelter after the blaze on Wednesday morning engulfed a 24-storey tower block and killed at least 30 people.

She also met with the emergency services’ members.

UPDATE: The death toll from the London tower block fire has risen to at least 30 and police are considering whether criminal offences had been committed, a senior police officer said on Friday.

“We know that at least 30 people have died as a result of this fire,” said Commander Stuart Cundy, adding that the figure was expected to rise.

He added that 24 people were still in hospital and 12 were receiving critical care.

“The investigation will look in into what criminal offences may have been committed,” Cundy said.

UPDATE: The first victim of a towerblock inferno in London has been named as Syrian refugee Mohammed Alhajali.

loading...

His brother Omar broke down in tears as he told how Mohammed got trapped in the burning block as they both tried to flee their 14th floor home.

Omar, who initially thought his brother had escaped, spoke to Mohammed by phone from outside the block as he watched it engulfed in flames and thick black smoke.

“He said: ‘Why (have) you left me…?’ He said: “I’m dying. I cannot breathe,” Omar told the BBC.

“We came from Syria to be safe here, and now we’re dying.”

Scores of people are feared dead after the massive blaze tore through Grenfell Tower in West London just after midnight on Wednesday.

UPDATE: Police says there is nothing to suggest the fire was started intentionally.

UPDATE: British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Friday visit those injured in a deadly London tower block fire after facing fierce criticism for attending the site but not meeting with residents.

May pledged on Thursday to hold a public inquiry into a fire that engulfed a 24-storey social housing block in West London, expressing her sorrow in a televised statement after meeting with the emergency services.

But she has been widely attacked for not meeting with residents, sending ministers to do so instead.

UPDATE: The Sun newspaper on Friday listed 65 people who it said were still missing or feared dead in a London tower block fire which police said has left 17 people dead with the death toll expected to rise.

When asked on Thursday whether the death toll could exceed 100, London police commander Stuart Cundy said: “I’d like to hope that it isn’t going to be triple figures.”

UPDATE: Mansion House dinner was canceled due to the fire.

UPDATE: British finance minister Philip Hammond said he no longer planned to deliver a high-profile speech later on Thursday because of a deadly fire which struck a London tower block on Wednesday.

“In view of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, I have withdrawn from giving the Mansion House speech tonight. My thoughts are with local community,” Hammond said on Twitter.

Hammond had been expected to spell out his views on the need for a Brexit deal that suits the needs of British business.

UPDATE: Theresa May orders a public inquiry into the fire, according to Sky New.

“Right now, people want answers and it’s absolutely right and that’s why I am today ordering a full public inquiry into this disaster. We need to know what happened, we need to have an explanation of this,” she said on Thursday.

“People deserve answers, the inquiry will give them.”

According to the Guardian, Theresa May also promised housing in London for all those that lost their homes.

UPDATE: The Mayor of London also demanded a public inquiry and said that an interim report should be finalized this summer. The Mayor also confirmed that the death toll has risen.

UPDATE: Fire commander Dany Cotton said she is worried about the mental health of people who were at the site of the tragedy, adding that nine firefighters sustained injuries during the operations.

UPDATE: Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said 17 people have been killed. That number is set to increase he said adding that the incident has nothing to do with terrorism.

Cundy also said that the search operations could take weeks, as the upper levels are especially challenging. There is no official estimate regarding the number of people missing.

Fire commander said that the search will be going on for days to come.

“I want to be realistic, we are likely to have crews working at the scene for many days to come. We do not yet know what caused the fire. We do not know where it started and we do not know why it spread in the way that it did. Investigations have started but it is too soon to say any more,” fire commander Dany Cotton said.

“This was a tragic and unprecedented  fire and our thoughts remain with all those affected by it.  As I have stated many times, I have never experienced anything like this in my career.  However, I have taken enormous strength from the amazing response from all my staff and the response of  the other emergency services who continue to be involved in the response  to the incident.”

The Brigade will also be utilising specialist urban search and rescue dogs today, which are lighter and can cover a larger area, to help identify anything around the building that may help confirm the  identify those still inside.

UPDATE: The management company responsible for Grenfell Tower had been served with enforcement notices from the fire brigade, the Guardian reports.

UPDATE:  The Queen sends her prayers for all those hit by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

“My thoughts and prayers are with those families who have lost loved ones in the Grenfell Tower fire and the many people who are still critically ill in hospital. Prince Philip and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of firefighters and other emergency services officers who put their own lives at risk to save others. It is also heartening to see the incredible generosity of community volunteers rallying to help those affected by this terrible event,” the Queen said in a statement.

The statement came after members of the Royal Family announced that they will be making donations for the victims of the tragedy.

UPDATE: British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived on Thursday at the tower block in west London that was destroyed by fire, a Reuters photographer said.

Authorities have confirmed that 12 people were killed in the blaze at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington and the toll is expected to rise further.

UPDATE: According to reports, a ruptured gas pipe could hinder fierfighters’ efforts to stop the fire.

UPDATE: Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday morning and a Reuters witness saw a big piece of cladding falling from the building, 32 hours after fire engulfed the building in the early hours of Wednesday

UPDATE: Firefighters have not been able to conduct a comprehensive search of the 24-storey block of flats in west London that went up in flames because it is not safe for them to walk to the edges of the building, the fire brigade chief said on Thursday.

Some of the internal structures are not regarded as safe at the moment, however the central core is, so my firefighters have been up to the top floor last night, they have done the initial brief search from the doorways,” London fire chief Dany Cotton told ITV.

“So although we’ve been up there we haven’t managed to do a comprehensive search and until we can make the building safe then I really don’t want to risk the safety of my firefighters at this moment in time,” she said.

Cotton said structural surveyors and urban search and rescue specialists would inspect the building on Thursday and once it was declared safe a full search would take place.

UPDATE: The death toll in a fire disaster that destroyed a 24-storey block of flats in London was expected to rise on Thursday, with many people still missing and firefighters facing hazardous conditions as they searched the charred carcass.

Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday morning, 30 hours after fire engulfed the building in the early hours of Wednesday and turned it into a huge flaming torch in a matter of minutes.

Authorities have confirmed 12 deaths, but have said that figure would rise. Firefighters rescued 65 people from the building.

Survivors who have lost everything spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with donations of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners.

UPDATE: British Prime Minister Theresa May promised there would be a full investigation into the cause of a fire that ripped through a London tower block killing 12 residents and injuring dozens more as they slept on Wednesday.

“In due course when the scene is secure, when it is possible to identify the cause of this fire, there will be proper investigation and if there are any lessons to be learned, they will be and action will be taken,” she said in televised statement.

UPDATE: Adele was seen comforting the victims of the tragedy.

UPDATE: At least 12 people died in the huge fire that engulfed a London tower block on Wednesday and the toll is likely to rise further, police said.

“Sadly I can confirm that there are now 12 people who have died, that we know of, this is going to be a long and complex recovery operation and I do anticipate that the number of fatalities will sadly increase beyond those 12,” Police Commander Stuart Cundy told reporters.

UPDATE: Some firefighters have sustained minor injuries.

The Fire Commissioner and the Mayor of London are on the scene.

UPDATE: Met police commander Stuart Cundy said there are still people unaccounted for.

UPDATE: According to the Guardian, Rydon, the contractors who carried out the £9.7 million refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, insisted that it met fire and health and safety standards.

UPDATE: London Police says there may be people within the building who are unaccounted for after London tower block fire.

UPDATE: British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she was deeply saddened by the loss of life in a fire at a London tower block which killed at least six people and injured more than 70 others.

“The prime minister is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life in the Grenfell Tower and is being kept constantly updated on the situation,” a spokesman said.

UPDATE: Cross-government meeting to take place in order to talk about the incident.

UPDATE: London Ambulance says that some 10 people made their own way to the hospital. The total number of people treated reached 64, including 20 in a critical condition.

“We have treated and taken 64 patients to six hospitals across London, where 20 people are currently in critical care,” London Ambulance Service’s director of operations, Paul Woodrow, said in a statement.

UPDATE: Julian Redhead, medical director at Imperial College Healthcare said a lot of the injured are suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.

Medical staff has came in voluntarily to help with the injured, the director added.

UPDATE: Met Police confirms six fatalities.

Six people have been confirmed dead in a huge fire at a London tower block and the death toll is expected to rise, police said on Wednesday.

“We can confirm six fatalities at this time following the fire in North Kensington,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement. “These are very early stages and we do expect that figure to rise.”

UPDATE: According to a local council member 400 and 600 people live in the building.

UPDATE: A baby was caught by a member of the public after being dropped from Grenfell Tower as it was engulfed with flames, a witness said according to the Guardian.

UPDATE: A deal between Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party and British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives could be delayed until next week after a fire in an apartment block in central London killed several people on Wednesday, the BBC reported

UPDATE: The Mayor of London said to Sky News that the firefighters are still working hard to save residents.

“There are 120 flats, many are with four bedrooms. There are still people unaccounted for but some of them could have found refugee at their neighbours. We’re still at the search and rescue phase. We did not move to recovery.” Sadiq Khan said.”There are legitimate questions that all of us have.”

The Mayor of London also released a statement taking about the “horrific scenes” at Grenfell Tower.

UPDATE: Dany Cotton Fire Commissioner said that large numbers were rescued in the beginning but searchers are still ongoing. The building remains safe for firefighters, Cotton said.

“At the moment the building continues to be safe for our crews to go and work in.”

Searches are underway at the 19th and 20th floor, according to the Fire Commissioner. Structural engineers are on the ground evaluating the safety of the tower.

“We have got a structural engineer, who in conjunction with my urban search and rescue advisor, is monitoring the stability of the building,” London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton said.

UPDATE: Firefighters are conducting a systematic search of the tower.

UPDATE: London Mayor says question will need to be answered after the London fire.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said questions will need to be answered over the safety of tower blocks after several people were killed on Wednesday when a fire engulfed a 24-storey building.

Some residents said they had been advised they should stay in their flats in the event of a fire, while the block’s residents association had previously warned it was worried about the risk of a serious fire.

“These questions are really important questions that need to be answered,” Khan told BBC Radio.

“Across London we have many, many tower blocks and what we can’t have is a situation where people’s safety is put at risk because of bad advice being given or if it is the case, as has been alleged, of tower blocks not being properly serviced or maintained.”

According to the Guardian, the company that was responsible for the refurbishment has taken down form its website all reference to the tower. Also, posts form 2014, showed that the tenants were concerned about fire safety.

UPDATE: Met Police confirms that there were fatalities and that the evacuation is still in process.

UPDATE: More than 50 patients have been taken to the hospital, according to the London Ambulance Service.

UPDATE: Witnesses report that people started jumping form windows in order to escape the fire.

UPDATE: A number of people have been killed in a huge fire which engulfed a 27-story block of flats in central London on Wednesday, London Fire Brigade said.

At least 30 people have been injured in the fire which engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the Grenfell Tower, where several hundred people lived.

“At this time I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities, I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building,” Dany Cotton, Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade told reporters adding “This is an unprecedented incident. In my 29 years of being a firefighter I have never ever seen anything of this scale. Firefighters are working very hard at the moment.”

UPDATE: Residents talking to British media say that by the time they evacuated the building, there were still people trapped in the building.

They also said that the building has underwent refurbishment, but it was mostly cosmetic.

One resident told Sky News that before the refurbishment, there was another fire but that time, it did not engulf the entire building. He thinks that the materials used could be the cause behind the powerful fire.

UPDATE: Locals are afraid that the building, which is a ruin, could collapse. The area has been evacuated by firefighters and traffic restrictions have been put in place by police officials at the scene.

UPDATE: Witnesses report that the Fire Brigade evacuated the area as soon as they arrived at the scene.

UPDATE: Residents related how they woke up to the smell of burning and rushed to escape through smoke-filled corridors.

“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire,” London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Dan Daly said.

“This is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances.”

UPDATE: British Ambulance has taken 30 people to 5 hospitals.

At least 30 people were taken to hospital on Wednesday after a fire engulfed a 27-storey block of flats in central London, the ambulance service said.

“We can confirm that we have taken 30 patients to five hospitals,” London Ambulance Service said

UPDATE: Some residents of the tower are at a makeshift centre in the Rugby Portobello, a community centre, according to the Guardian.

Massive flames licked up the sides of the block as 200 firefighters battled the blaze along with 40 fire engines. Flumes of black and grey smoke billowed into the air over London hours after the blaze was sparked.

London Fire Brigade said the fire had engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate in west London.

“We are dealing with a really serious fire that spread throughout the building,” a spokesman for the fire brigade said. “The crews are doing all that they possibly can to tackle this fire.”

Some people were trapped in the fire, with residents desperately shouting for help from windows on upper floors as the fire spread, some British media reported.

Reuters could not confirm those reports. A witness told Reuters that she feared not all the residents had escaped the fire. Some were evacuated in their pyjamas.

“A number of people are being treated for a range of injuries,” police said. “Residents continue to be evacuated from the tower block fire.”

More than 20 ambulance crews were at the scene. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said a “major incident” had been declared. Police closed the A40, a major road leading out of west London.

The cause of the fire, which broke out just after 0000 GMT, is not known at this stage, the Fire Brigade said.

Reuters

Loading...

Advertisement