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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Smoke in front of Grenfell Tower, which has been ravaged by fire (Reuters)
Residents of the London tower block engulfed by a devastating fire on Wednesday morning are believed to have warned of alleged safety problems as recently as the end of last year.
Members of an action group at Grenfell Tower wrote that they believed the building posed a fire risk, and that “only a catastrophic event will expose” the issues after their concerns fell on “deaf ears”.
In November 2016 residents wrote on the Grenfell Action Group website that they feared such a fire could break out and warned of the potential for a “major disaster”.
Following the fire, the group posted: “All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time.”
It claimed access to the building was “severely restricted” for emergency services and other vehicles and that residents had been advised to stay in their flats in case of fire.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said there are “questions that have to be answered” after residents of Grenfell Tower were told to stay in their flat in the event of fire.
Mr Khan condemned the “bad advice” given to residents of the West London tower block that was engulfed in flames overnight, killing several inhabitants and leaving many trapped inside the burning building.
A newsletter to residents in 2014 said the “stay put” policy worked because the block had been designed according to “rigorous fire safety standards”.
“Thankfully residents didn't take that advice but fled... these are some of the questions that have to be answered,” Mr Khan said.
“We have lots of people in London living in tower blocks... We can't have peoples lives being put at risk because of bad advice or lack of maintenance.”
Read more: ind.pn/2rupc3y
Grenfell Tower has now been on fire for more than eight hours.
Witnesses have described screams of terror and people jumping in a bid to reach safety after the blaze ripped through the block of flats. Others spoke of safety concerns and the panic sparkled by unfounded fears terrorism could be to blame for the disastrous fire.
One witness described hearing a neighbour screaming for help before apparently jumping out as flames engulfed his seventh-storey flat.
“There was a woman stood behind me who was shouting to someone she knew on the seventh floor,” the witness, who did not wish to be named, told the Press Association. “She was on the phone trying to speak to him, she was obviously very emotional because the flats were blazing at this point. He looked like he was screaming to her.
“Police said for anyone at the windows to wave a rag or something so the firemen could rescue them, but we thought: how are they gonna do that? “I saw the woman later and she was hysterical. She said her friend jumped. The whole of his window was on fire.”
She added: “Everybody was crying. Nobody really knew what was going, or what is happening from now on. Where do people go? People have been saying the whole building could collapse at any stage. So frightening.”
Muna Ali, 45, a long-time neighbour to the block, said he had "never seen anything like it, it just reminded me of 9/11."
“The fire started on the upper floors ... oh my goodness, it spread so quickly, it had completely spread within half an hour."
Firefighters carry gas cylinders near Grenfell Tower (Reuters)
In a statement, Kensington and Chelsea Council said that at “present all our focus is on supporting the rescue and relief operation” adding that the “cause of the fire will be fully investigated”.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton called the fire an "unprecedented situation" and said it had "affected all floors of this 24 storey building, from the second floor up.
“Over 200 firefighters and officers are attending this incident, with 40 fire engines and a range of other specialist vehicles, including 14 fire rescue units in attendance," she said.
“Based on the level of resource that were needed at this fire we declared it a major incident in the early hours of this morning. London Fire Brigade’s Control room took multiple calls to this incident, with the first received at 00.54am.
“First fire crews were on site in under six minutes. Crews wearing breathing apparatus have been working in extremely difficult conditions to rescue people and bring this major fire under control.“
Ms Cotton said the cause of the fire “is not known at this stage”.
This sign advising residents to "stay put" in the case of a fire was displayed in Grenfell Tower, according to a post from March 2017 on the residents' blog Grenfell Action Group.
The post says the group "has a long history of raising concerns" about fire safety issues.
One distressed resident of Grenfell Tower in west London, which has been on fire since around 1am, reportedly told his neighbours his faulty fridge may have caused the blaze.Samira Lamrani, 38, who lives on nearby Hurstway Walk, said the man was "beside himself".
“When I arrived on the scene he [the resident] was amongst the people that were standing there,” said Ms Lamrani. “He was just beside himself. He was just as surprised at how quickly the fire spread as anybody else.
“I could hear him saying that he contacted the emergency services immediately and they reassured him everything would be under control within a short period of time, and obviously it wasn't.”
She said she thought the fire started on the second floor.
A woman comforts a boy near Grenfell Tower (Reuters)
People are still frantically searching for loved ones as fire continues to engulf nearly all 24 storeys of Grenfell Tower in Kensington.
More than 50 people are also being treated in five hospitals across the capital, London Ambulance Service said, as 200 firefighters battle the flames that have engulfed Grenfell Tower in Kensington.
The Metropolitan Police has set up a “casualty bureau” hotline for people concerned about loved ones, using the numbers 0800 0961 233 or 020 7158 0197.
The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Borough Nick Paget-Brown said “several hundred” people would have been in the block when the fire broke out.
Witnesses at the scene described fear and panic with one women at the scene reportedly “screaming and crying” outside the police cordon.
Jody Martin said he got to the scene as the first fire engine arrived and saw a desperate mother holding her baby out of the window.
He told the BBC: “I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down and they were saying 'We can't leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors'.”
Read more: ind.pn/2srno09
Witnesses have described screams of terror and people jumping as fire ripped through Grenfell Tower in west London.
One witness described hearing a neighbour screaming for help before apparently jumping out as flames engulfed his seventh-storey flat.
Speaking from an evacuation centre on Freston Road, the woman, who asked not to be named, said: “There was a woman stood behind me who was shouting to someone she knew on the seventh floor.
“She was on the phone trying to speak to him, she was obviously very emotional because the flats were blazing at this point. He looked like he was screaming to her.
“Police said for anyone at the windows to wave a rag or something so the firemen could rescue them, but we thought, 'How are they gonna do that?'
“I saw the woman later and she was hysterical. She said her friend jumped. The whole of his window was on fire.”
Another witness, Samira, told BBC News: “I think the speed of the fire was the most shocking thing for everyone, how quick it literally went from zero to 100.”
She claimed she had seen “a lot of people jumping out that basically didn't make it”.
The London Fire Brigade are monitoring the stability of the building, according to the BBC
Nearby mosques and churches have opened their doors to offer help to those affected by the blaze. Residents have rallied together to urge people to donate clothing, toiletries, toys and spare clothes to St Clements Church, W11 4EQ, and other places in the near vicinity.
Read more: ind.pn/2rgcSEI
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