At least six people have died after a
huge fire raged through the night at a west London 24-storey tower
block, and police expect that number to rise.
Eyewitnesses
described people trapped in the burning Grenfell Tower, in north
Kensington, screaming for help and yelling for their children to be
saved.
Firefighters, who rescued many people, were called at 00:54 BST and are still trying to put out the fire.
Police say there may still be people in the building who are unaccounted for.
During
the night, eyewitnesses said they saw lights - thought to be mobile
phones or torches - flashing at the top of the block of flats, and
trapped residents coming to their windows - some holding children.
It
is understood that "several hundred" people would have been in the
block when the fire broke out shortly after midnight, most of them
sleeping.
Commander
Stuart Cundy, of the Metropolitan Police, said the recovery operation
would be "complex and lengthy", and the number of fatalities was
expected to rise.
He declined to give any details of the number of people who may be missing.
He
said it was likely to be some time before police could identify the
victims, adding that it was too early to speculate on the cause of the
fire.
An emergency number - 0800 0961 233 - has been set up for anyone concerned about friends or family.
More than 70 people have received treatment in hospital. At least 20 are known to be in a critical condition.
At
13:00 BST, Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said firefighters expected to
be on the scene for at least another 24 hours and she would not
speculate about the cause of the blaze.
She said there were
concerns that people were still inside the tower and she urged all
residents to make sure they had reported themselves to police so that
the authorities know they are safe.
Prime Minister Theresa May is "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life", said Downing Street.
Meanwhile,
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to demand a government statement in
Parliament on Thursday on the tragedy, the BBC understands.
Later,
police and fire minister Nick Hurd will chair a cross-party meeting to
look at how the government can assist the emergency services and local
authorities.
Paul Munakr, who lives on the seventh floor, managed to escape.
"As
I was going down the stairs, there were firefighters, truly amazing
firefighters that were actually going upstairs, to the fire, trying to
get as many people out the building as possible," he told the BBC.
He said he was alerted to the fire not by fire alarms but by people on the street below, shouting "don't jump, don't jump".
Eyewitness
Jody Martin said: "I watched one person falling out, I watched another
woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams.
"I was
yelling at everyone to get down and they were saying 'We can't leave our
apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors.'"
Michael Paramasivan, who lives on the seventh floor with his
girlfriend and young daughter, said he ignored official advice to stay
in your home.
"If we had stayed in that flat, we would've
perished. My gut instinct told me just to get the girls out. I wrapped
the little one up because of the smoke and I just got them out."
Another resident, Zoe, who lives on the fourth floor, said she was woken by a neighbour banging on her door.
"The
whole landing was thick with smoke. The smoke alarms weren't going off
but the way it spread so quickly from the fourth floor, all the way up
to the 23rd floor was scary."
At the scene
By Lucy Manning, BBC News
They have lost their homes and for some, tragically their relatives.
At times there is the sound of sobbing as the word goes round that someone is missing, someone is feared dead.
I've spent the day inside the community centre where survivors have gathered.
Downstairs in the hall families sit at tables and wait for news.
One
family told me they hadn't heard from their brother, sister and three
children - Mirna, Fatima and Zainnb. Other relatives were out searching
hospitals. There was still no news.
Outside the centre, Sawsan was
with a group of women. For one it was too much, she was on the floor
crying. Sawsan hasn't heard from her mum, sister, brother-in-law and
nieces. She spoke to them when the fire started but nothing since.
Inside
the centre, families are being helped with food, housing and medical
treatment. It's busy and everyone is helping. Just not with the one
thing they need - information about whether their relatives are safe.
Christabel told me how lucky her father had been. He tried to fight the fire but made it out alive.
Ed was saved when a friend called him to tell him to get out the building. "I'm lucky" he says. But they have lost everything.
Grenfell
Tower, built in 1974, is part of the Lancaster West Estate, a sprawling
inner-city social housing complex of almost 1,000 homes.
Robert
Black, chief executive of the tower's management company, the Kensington
and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, said: "The fire at Grenfell
Tower is devastating and the reports of injury and losses of life
absolutely heartbreaking.
"Along with my colleagues, I have been
supporting residents since the early hours, working with the emergency
services and the community."
The BBC's Andy Moore, who was at the
scene through the night, described watching debris falling from the
building, and hearing explosions and breaking glass.
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