London fire as it happened: 12 residents confirmed dead and more fatalities expected after day of horror
Witnesses describe 'terrifying' scenes
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A huge fire has engulfed a large block of flats in London, killing at least a dozen people.
Hundreds of firefighters were sent to 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, as large plumes of smoke billowed above the capital after the blaze broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Witnesses spoke of "terrifying" scenes, with some residents suggesting they heard no alarm go off when the fire began. At least 75 people are being treated at six hospitals across the capital.
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Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has described the emergency services' response to the blaze as "heroic".
The family of missing 12-year-old Jessica Urbano have issued a plea for her to be found.
The schoolgirl was on the 20th floor of the tower block when she was separated from her family, who have put out numerous posts on social media to find her.
Her aunt, Ana Ospina, a make-up artist, told the Press Association: “She last spoke to her mum when she borrowed a phone and told her she was on the stairs with other people.
“We then have had unconfirmed reports/sightings of her outside of the flats and also being put into an ambulance, but we have checked hospitals and no news.
“She hasn't been found yet. We are doing a second visit to the hospitals and also the centres in and around Latimer Road.”
The Metropolitan Police said anyone with concerns or information about people affected by the fire should call the Casualty Bureau on 0800 0961 233.
London Ambulance Service has released a statement saying 69 patients have been taken to six hospitals across London, with 18 people in critical care.
A further 10 patients are said to have made their own way to hospital.
The former chairman of the tenancy organisation connected to Grenfell Tower has said the fatal blaze could have been avoided, describing recent refurbishment work on the block as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Reg Kerr-Bell, who stood down from the Kensington and Chelsea Tenancy Management Organisation (TMO) several years ago over his concerns about the way it was run, said he had spoken to a former colleague about their fear just two days before the fire.
Mr Kerr-Bell said: “This is a scandal. This is one of the biggest scandals in the country - and it could have been avoided. This refurbishment contract should never have been managed by TMO.
”It was too big for them. My great concern was about the viability of the project."
He added that he had met a former director two days ago to discuss his concerns.
”We felt there was a disaster waiting to happen and we were going to have a meeting with the MP so that we could put these concerns to them. That was two days ago and today he phoned me and said: 'You will not believe what is going on'. It is not going to finish with this - this is just the start."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told the BBC “questions must be asked” about the facilities and resources available to local authorities to maintain tower blocks.
“The areas one has to look at are the preventative measures that were available or not available in the tower, the facilities available to go in and out of it in an emergency and urgent situation, and the numbers of people available to the fire service, paramedics and emergency services to deal with a crisis like this,” he said.
“I believe we need to ask questions about what facilities and resources have been given to every local authority that has tower blocks within their area, and frankly most do.
”We need to deal with this, we need people to be safe living in high-rise buildings.“
Kensington and Chelsea TMO, which manages 10,000 properties on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, has said it is aware that concerns over the safety of Grenfell Tower had been raised by residents in the past.
In a statement, the housing service provider said: "It is too early to speculate what caused the fire and contributed to its spread. We will co-operate fully with all the relevant authorities in order to ascertain the cause of this tragedy.
"We are aware that concerns have been raised historically by residents. We always take all concerns seriously and these will form part of our forthcoming investigations. While these investigations continue with our co-operation, our core priority at the moment is our residents."
Read the full statement here:
Twelve people are confirmed to have died in the blaze, and the number of fatalities will increase beyond that, Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police has said.
London Fire Brigade’s Steve Apter has told reporters the fire was “unprecedented in terms of scale speed and spread,” and that the firefighters would continue to tackle the incident through the night.
“At its height over 40 appliances and over 250 fire fighters were tackling what was a serious and significant fire. This was an unprecedented fire in terms of scale speed and spread,” he said.
“This continues to be a challenging incident for us. I’m proud of the efforts of our fire-fighters for bringing this blaze under control.”
He said it remained a “live incident”, so was limited in the amount of information he was able to give, but added: “We intend to be here until the job is done. We certainly intend to be here through the night.
“The fire continues to provide challenge, but I can confirm our fire-fighters have been able to search almost all of the building now.”
Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police has said he believes the death toll will increase beyond the 12 that have been confirmed at present.
He told reporters: “Sadly I can confirm that there are now 12 people that 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.”
Commander Cundy added that the fire was “of a precedence we have not seen in London for many, many years,” with Met Police call handlers having received hundreds of calls.
“Experience shows us that on occasions like this, it’s very difficult to put a number on how many people are unaccounted for,” he said.
“Our priorities are clearly those that we know to have been residents, but indeed there might have been others who were staying with family and friends.
“It wil be vitally important as we work closely with the coroner that we locate and identify all those who have tragically died within this truly shocking fire.”
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