There have been a number of confirmed fatalities in the Grenfell Tower fire in West London.
Over 200 firefighters were called to the tower on the Lancaster West Estate in Kensington after a fire broke out at approximately 1:15am on Wednesday morning.
At least 50 injured people have been taken to hospital, with a significant number still unaccounted for. There were believed to have been up to 600 people in the building when the fire broke out.
This morning, London Fire Brigade confirmed that there have been fatalities as a result of the fire, which has been declared a major incident.
In a statement posted on Facebook, London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: “At this time I am sad to confirm that we now know that there have been fatalities.
“I cannot confirm the number at this time and as you will appreciate with a fire of this size, affecting such a large building it would be unhelpful of me to speculate further.
“The cause of the fire is not known at this stage, and clearly we will be here all day and will be in a providing further updates, working with the police and ambulance service.
“Further information for the public will be made available shortly, including advice for those concerned about those they are worried about and the emergency services will be working with all agencies, including the local authority to support all of those affected by this incident.”
You can read the full statement here:
As the horrifying news broke over night, local residents reported the sound of people trapped in the building screaming for help.
There have been serious questions over the safety protocols in place at Grenfell Tower. An action group at the tower concerned with the building’s safety have said their warnings fell on “deaf ears”.
A blog post from 2014 outlined their concerns that the tower was turning into a “death trap”. Reports have indicated that residents were advised to remain in their flats in case of fire.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said there were “questions to be answered” over the safety protocols, condemning the “bad advice” given to residents.
“Thankfully residents didn’t take that advice but fled… these are some of the questions that have to be answered,” the Mayor 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.”
An emergency number has been established for anyone concerned about loved ones that may have been affected by the fire: 0800 0961 233
