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15th Jun 2017

Tower block resident’s interview is extremely difficult to watch

Some might find the details given by the resident distressing

Robert Redmond

Some might find the details given by the resident distressing.

At least 17 people have died in a fire blaze at the Grenfell Tower in London. Police expect the death toll from Wednesday’s fire to rise, and sniffer dogs are searching the burnt out tower block for bodies.

The scale of the tragedy continues to unfold as the hours go by.

Details of the horrific incident also continue to emerge. Witnesses have spoken about hearing screams as the tower block burnt, and a baby was caught after getting dropped from the 10th floor of the building.

Joe Delaney was a resident of the building, and he told Channel 4 news about how, thanks to his fob key, he was able to lead people out of the back of the burning building. Otherwise they would have been trapped.

Delaney also said that he isn’t sure if he and others outside the building should have tried to wake sleeping residents as the fire blazed, because it was too late to help them.

“What did we wake them for? They woke up and were still trapped in that building and no-one could get out,” he said.

Akala, a rapper from London, also took part in the interview, and he was visibly angry.

“The people who died and lost their homes… this happened to them because they are poor,” he said.

“We are in one of the richest spaces not just London but in the world. Repeated requests were ignored. There is no way that rich people would be living in a building without adequate fire safety.

“Everybody I spoke to couldn’t hear alarms, there was no sprinkler system.”

You can watch the full interview here: