At least 12 dead in London’s horrific high-rise inferno
At least 80 people died in the blaze at Grenfell Tower in June Photo: Twitter
At least six people are dead, 74 others injured and dozens more trapped inside a London high-rise after a huge blaze engulfed the tower in the dead of night.
London police said the death toll was expected to rise as more than 200 firefighters and 40 units continued to work to bring the fire under control.
The London Fire Brigade said a structural engineer and rescue crews had assessed the stability of the building and believed it was not in danger of collapsing.
It is unclear how many people were inside the building when the fire broke out, but the tower comprises around 120 units and houses more than 200 people, according to UK media reports.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton confirmed “a number of fatalities” from the inferno which broke out just before 1am UK time and burned upwards from the second floor of the 27-storey tower, but she declined to speculate on a cause of the fire.
London Ambulance tweeted about 3.30pm AEST that 30 people had been taken to five hospitals, with 20 units on the scene, but the nature of those injuries was uncertain.
People were reportedly treated for a range of injuries, including smoke inhalation.
Witnesses said they could see lights flashing at the top of the block – believed to be mobile phones – with residents desperately shouting for help.
Khalid Sarang, 23, lives in neighbouring block and described it as “hell on earth”.
“I have friends who live on the top floor and I can’t get them on the phone,” Mr Sarang told The Sun newspaper.
“There is a family of four trapped up there now screaming.
“The first thing I heard were the screams and I came running out.
“It’s like hell on earth.”
Firefighters at the scene of Grenfell Tower fire. Photo: Getty
One witness said she heard people screaming and could see residents flashing their phone lights inside the building.
“I could see it from my garden, it was just there [the fire] a couple of floors, and over the hours it just spread and gone around the left of the building as well,” she told BBC.
“I can’t believe the way it’s gone up so quick. It spread so quick.
“We could hear people screaming, ‘help me, help me’, and flashing their phone lights to let people know they were there. You’re just helpless.”
London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Dan Daly called it “a large and very serious incident”.
Just before 4am (UK time), the Metropolitan Police said “a number” of people were being treated at the scene treated for a range of injuries and cordons were in place.
They've managed to put some of it out now. #GrenFellTower #GrenfellTowerFire #london #fire #kensington pic.twitter.com/ePLJgTPVJ8
— ✯ Natalie ✯ (@Vampicca) June 14, 2017
“Residents continue to be evacuated from the tower block in North Kensington,” police tweeted.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Twitter a “major incident” had been declared.
The block is approximately 8km from Parliament buildings in central London and was built in 1974 as part of the Lancaster West Estate.
The building was also the subject of warnings of fire risk by a group called Grenfell Action Group in 2016.
The tower was renovated in May last year and includes a childcare centre on the ground floor.
Firefighters continue to work extremely hard at the scene of #NorthKensington tower block fire https://t.co/QYF9V38wWJ pic.twitter.com/GJqaJV3H0i
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 14, 2017
The Grenfell Tower engulfed in flames. Photo: Getty
-with agencies
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