London building blaze kills dozens

The fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate in Latimer Road was reported at 1:16 local time. About 600 people are believed to have been inside the tower’s 120 flats when the blaze ripped through the building. 

The area around Grenfell Tower is home to a large number of Muslims. “I can confirm 12 fatalities at this time but this figure is likely to rise during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days,” said Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Metropolitan Police. He said it was likely to be some time before police could identify the victims. 

The fire is thought to have started because of a faulty refrigerator on the 3rd or 4th floor soon after midnight and destroyed flat after flat. However, the police said it will take some time before they are in a position to confirm the cause of the fire.  

Eyewitnesses described people trapped in the burning Grenfell Tower, in north Kensington, screaming for help and yelling for their children to be saved. Firefighters rescued many people and are still trying to put the fire out in the 24-storey block 12 hours on. 

“This is an unprecedented incident. In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale,” London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton told reporters. “Extensive cordons remain in place and a number of nearby residents have been evacuated as a precaution,” Cundy said. Firefighters rescued “large numbers”, but London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “a lot” of people were unaccounted for.