Coverage of the fire continues here:
Summary
This blog is closing now but we will be launching a new one soon. Thanks very much for reading. Here is a summary of the latest news:
- Scotland Yard have launched a criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire after it emerged that cladding panels similar to those likely to have been used on the 24-storey building have been widely prohibited on tall buildings in the US since 2012.
- The prime minister Theresa May has also set up a public inquiry into the fire.
- The official death toll stands at 17, but is expected to rise.
- Police says six people have so far been provisionally identified, but no details have been given.
- A total of 30 people are being treated in six London hospitals. Fifteen are in a critical condition.
- Police have said that some of the dead from the blaze may never be identified, as officers warned that the painful process of retrieving the victims could take months.
- Among those still missing are entire families, a six-month-old baby, a young Italian couple, and a five-year-old boy who lost hold of an adult’s hand as his family struggled through thick smoke to escape the blaze.
- A charity inundated by donations has urged the public to stop sending clothes, food and other items for victims of the fire, asking that monetary donations be made instead.
- Residents of high-rise flats run by the same organisation that ran Grenfell Tower have spoken of concerns for their safety.
- May has addressed criticism that she did not meet survivors of the fire during a visit to the area, saying she wanted a briefing from the emergency services.
- The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has suggested vacant houses in Kensington & Chelsea should be requisitioned on behalf of people left homeless by the fire.
- Liberal Democrats have called for the cladding used on Grenfell Tower to be banned in the UK.
- Writing in the Guardian, David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said that arrests and prosecutions should follow the deadly blaze.
- It appears to be firming up that Mohamed Alhajali, one of the missing, has died. The Syrian Solidarity Campaign Facebook page is raising money for his funeral.
The Press Association reports that London Fire Brigade has described support given to its staff following the Grenfell Tower fire as “overwhelming”.
More than 200 firefighters were called to the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday and commissioner Dany Cotton said crews would remain at the scene for many days.
Search and rescue dogs have been used on the site in west London as investigations and searches continue.
The service shared a picture on social media of a card which had been handed to crews in north Kensington.
Written by someone called Derin to all the emergency services, the card said: “Thank you all by saving people’s lives.”
Lovely thank you letter received by crews at #GrenfellTower. The support we have received from all over the world has been overwhelming. pic.twitter.com/gnlPNu8j6t
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 15, 2017
The service said: “The support we have received from all over the world has been overwhelming.”
My colleague Alexandra Topping has put together this terribly sad piece about the final calls and texts made by people trapped inside the Grenfell Tower. It is heartbreaking reading.
Nura Jamal, who lived on the 23rd floor and is feared to have died with her two sons, aged six and 11, called a friend at 2am and said: “Forgive me, the fire is here, I’m dying.”
Sadly, it appears to be firming up that Mohamed Alhajali, one of the missing, has died. The 23-year-old engineering student moved into Grenfell Tower with his brother after fleeing the Syrian war three years ago.
We reported earlier that the Syrian Solidarity Campaign Facebook page said he had died in the blaze, news which was confirmed by one of his friends.
The campaign is now raising money for his funeral and has set up a petition calling for his parents to be given emergency visas so they can attend the ceremony.
His brother Omar, 25, managed to escape and is being treated in hospital.
For the second day the British newspapers have little else on their fronts other than the terrible events at Grenfell Tower.
The Sun goes with “Now the Anger” and says some people had had turned on London mayor Sadiq Khan and TV presenter Jon Snow at the scene.
Friday's SUN: "Now The Anger" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/cHRGUQOQZ4
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) June 15, 2017
The Mirror has the one word in its headline: “Criminal” and says the tragedy is one that “shames our nation”.
Friday's Daily MIRROR: "CRIMINAL" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/XIzM7D7Ua7
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) June 15, 2017
The Mail decides to float the question: “We’re green targets to blame for fire tragedy?” and asks whether “dubious” insulation was put on the tower just to meet environmental standards.
Friday's Daily MAIL: "Three Lethal Questions" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/trg4XBb8bV
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) June 15, 2017
The Guardian has the news that police fear some of the victims of the fire may never be formally identified and that the retrieval of their bodies could take months such is the destruction in the building.
Guardian front page, Friday 16 June 2017: Police: some victims of tower blaze may never be identified pic.twitter.com/KsMKhLTq9z
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 15, 2017
The Times has a now much discussed detail that the US had banned the type of cladding that was allegedly used o the 24-storey tower block.
.@thetimes front page 16 06 17 pic.twitter.com/WSfKBFODwG
— The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) June 15, 2017
The Telegraph’s splash is “Sorrow turns to anger” and claims that a “litany” of failings have been exposed by the tragedy. The paper highlights one family’s desperate search for relatives caught up in the blaze.
Friday's Daily TELEGRAPH: "Sorrow turns to anger" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/SRXwT0WLBH
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 15, 2017
The FT does have a picture of the commemoration wall for the Grenfell Tower but leads on interest rates staying put at record lows, saying there are fears that weak retail sales are signalling a prolonging a slowdown in the British economy.
Fri FT: 'BoE holds rates as weak retail sales add to fears of prolonged slowdown' #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/j9ymNCfmY8
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) June 15, 2017
Kensington and Chelsea Council won't use Grenfell cladding again
The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council has told BBC Newsnight that the council would not use cladding of the kind which was fitted during a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower on any other building in the borough.
Councillor Nicholas Paget-Brown said he was not aware of any other building in the borough with similar cladding. Asked by Kirsty Wark whether the council would apply similar cladding to other towers he replied: “No”.
Asked how many towers in Kensington and Chelsea did not have sprinklers installed, Paget-Bown said he could not give a number, but that the council had asked the London Fire Brigade to produce a report on whether all its tower blocks were safe.
Paget-Brown said the council had not considered retrofitting sprinklers when Grenfell Tower was refurbished in 2015/16 because “we were told that what you try to do when you are refurbishing is to contain the fire in a particular flat.”
He added: “There wasn’t a collective view that all the flats should be fitted with sprinklers because that would have delayed and made the refurbishment of the block more disruptive.”
Jon O’Neill, managing director of the Fire Protection Association, told Newsnight that DCLG officials had recently said that “people weren’t dying in these buildings” after being urged to act on building regulations.
Updated
A report in the Times claims that if standard panels were used on Grenfell Tower they would have cost £2 per square metre less than the fire-resistant version.
Reynobond’s fire-resistant panel sells for £24 per square metre — £2 more expensive than the standard version. A rough calculation suggests that panels covered more than 2,000 sq m on Grenfell, meaning that contractors could have acquired the fire-resistant version for less than £5,000 extra.
Updated
Rally for justice to be held on Friday
The Press Association reports that people are planning a rally in Westminster on Friday to call for justice for those caught up in the Grenfell Tower fire.
A Facebook event, Justice for Grenfell!, has been listed as taking place at 6pm on Friday outside the Department for Communities and Local Government in Marsham Street, with more than 1,000 people said to be attending.
The posting said: “At least 12 people have died in the fire at Grenfell Tower. They deserve justice. We demand answers .
“Solidarity with the residents of Grenfell Tower.”
Rob Davies has found out that regulations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland require the external walls of a building merely to adequately “resist the spread of fire” with external facing surfaces of buildings taller than 18m meeting regulations for surface spread of flame.
However, in Scotland any external cladding systems used above 18m must be completely non-combustible.
Robert Booth reports in our splash today that cladding panels similar to those likely to have been used on Grenfell Tower have been widely prohibited on American tall buildings since 2012 because of the fire risk they can pose.
Under the US building code, the use of metal composite panels which do not contain a fire-retardant core has been banned since 2012 on buildings above 50 feet tall (15m) in various circumstances including where exterior walls are required to have a fire-resistance rating as well as in restaurants, care homes, hospitals and concert halls.
The manufacturer of the cladding on Grenfell Tower which burned with such destructive effect on Wednesday, Reynobond, produces different versions of the cladding with a plastic or fire-retardant mineral core, and the latter “guarantees higher resistance to fire”, according to its website.But observers of the way the fire spread suspect more flammable plastic filled panels were used.
One architect familiar with the panels said the fire resistant version is only “slightly more expensive and slightly less high performing [as a thermal insulator] than the polymer filled ones”.Last night, the Liberal Democrats called for the type of cladding used on Grenfell tower to be banned in the UK. “The government must urgently bring UK fire safety standards into line with those abroad,” said Tom Brake MP.
A Q&A page on the Reynobond website says, “Question: When do I need fire-resistant (FR) versus polyethylene (PE) Reynobond? “The answer to this, in part, depends on local building codes. However, the International Building Code [used in the US] states that in all cases over 50ft above grade, FR is needed.
You can read more here:
Updated
Summary
Hello, it’s Bonnie Malkin here picking up the blog for the coming hours. Here is a summary of what we have learned in recent hours:
- Scotland Yard have launched a criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire.
- The official death toll stands at 17, but is expected to rise.
- Police says six people have so far been provisionally identified, but no details have been given.
- A total of 30 people are being treated in six London hospitals. Fifteen are in a critical condition.
- A charity inundated by donations has urged the public to stop sending clothes, food and other items for victims of the fire, asking that monetary donations be made instead.
- Residents of high-rise flats run by the same organisation that ran Grenfell Tower have spoken of concerns for their safety.
- The prime minister Theresa May has addressed criticism that she did not meet survivors of the fire during a visit to the area, saying she wanted a briefing from the emergency services.
- The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has suggested vacant houses in Kensington & Chelsea should be requisitioned on behalf of people left homeless by the fire.
Scotland Yard launches criminal inquiry
Police have opened a criminal investigation into the tower block fire that has killed at least 17 people. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “We have appointed a senior investigating officer.”
Police have said they are not yet in a position to define how the investigation will be carried out and what, specifically, will be its focus. But they said they hope to release more details soon.
Simon Cowell has pledged to help the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire by releasing a charity single.
I am watching the footage of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. Heartbreaking.
— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 15, 2017
We hope to confirm a record tomorrow which will raise some money for the many people affected by this tragedy. Making calls tonight.
— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 15, 2017
In 2010, Cowell produced a charity single, Everybody Hurts, for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The REM hit was re-recorded by a host of stars including Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart, Cheryl, Michael Buble, Kylie Minogue and Susan Boyle.
Crowds gathered for a second night outside a church in the shadow of Grenfell Tower in a vigil for those affected by the disaster.
Candles were placed alongside floral tributes and posters appealing for help to find those still missing following the blaze.
Scores of people bowed their heads in a minute’s silence in front of the Notting Hill Methodist Church in west London on Thursday evening. The Rev Mike Long said:
Today has been a very long day for a lot of people and most of us didn’t sleep well last night.
We still struggle in many different ways to come to terms with what’s happened and what’s unfolding and struggle to find words.
So sometimes we have to simply fall silent or light candles.
A charity has urged people to stop donating items for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire disaster because they are no longer needed. Muslim Aid, which along with Islamic Relief has collected more than 60 tonnes of supplies, is instead asking for contributions towards a relief fund for the victims.
So far, the organisation has raised more than £73,000 for those caught up in the fire. Jehangir Malik, the chief executive of Muslim Aid, said:
We are very grateful for kind donations of food, water, toiletries and other items, but these are no longer needed. If people wish to help, we ask that they express their generosity through donations, which will go to Grenfell Disaster Victims.
Residents at high rise flats managed by the organisation that ran Grenfell Tower have spoken of their concerns over their safety after Wednesday’s catastrophic fire.
Families who live in nearby Adair Tower in north Kensington, also operated by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation (KCTMO), have instructions to stay in their homes in the event of a fire. They believe the “stay put” policy places lives at risk.
Meanwhile, Camden council has been asked to urgently review cladding on five high-rises in the borough after tenants discovered that the contractor used in the Grenfell Tower block refurbishment was also responsible for renovation of their buildings.
Scotland Yard has issued some advice for people who are missing family or friends after the Grenfell Tower fire.
- If possible, please go to the reception centre at the Westway sports and leisure centre. Detectives there will meet people and take down the details of anyone missing or any other information.
- If people cannot go in person, police are asking them to call the casualty bureau on 0800 0961 233 - and keep trying if they cannot get through straight away.
The Met police’s commander Stuart Cundy said:
The recovery of victims from inside the building is enormously challenging, but it is our absolute priority above everything else to recover and identify the victims and let the families know.
It is important to be frank - fires are still breaking out and conditions are very difficult and hazardous for the emergency services in the upper levels of the building.
We can only recover bodies when it is safe to do so and that will take some time in the days and weeks to come. We have experts from urban search and rescue and the London Fire Brigade carrying out this process.
We believe we know the provisional identity of six of the deceased and those families have trained family liaison officers supporting them. We have identified all those injured in hospital. The families of the 16 who remain in a critical condition, as well as others in hospital with less serious injuries, are all aware.
I cannot begin to put myself in the shoes of those families affected and I can entirely understand their frustration at not knowing if their loved ones are amongst those who have died. Sadly, the nature of injuries caused by such an intense fire will mean the identification process will take some time. But it would also be deeply distressing for families for us to release wrong information.
Aside from the six people, we simply do not know at this stage the identity of those who are deceased. We cannot release information we do not have and it is so important the information we do release is entirely accurate.
Updated
The government will reimburse the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council for the costs of any care it provides to people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Under the emergency Bellwin scheme, central government offers financial assistance to institutions including councils and police forces dealing with disasters, such as flooding.
The communities and local government secretary, Sajid Javid, said:
First and foremost my thoughts are with the residents and families of those affected by the horrific incident at Grenfell Tower. Emergency services and the local community have been tremendous in their response.
As the prime minister has been clear, the government stands ready to help in any way possible. We’re determined to stand squarely behind the affected communities. Funding through the Bellwin scheme will help councils support the community to get back on their feet.
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, said:
We are all deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy and are determined that all necessary support will be there for victims and their families. That is why we have made emergency funding available so the local council can provide much-needed services to everybody affected.
Updated
The prime minister, Theresa May, has addressed her decision not to meet residents of the tower when she visited earlier today. Asked about it, she said:
Well, I visited the scene of this terrible fire this morning. I wanted a briefing from the emergency services. They’ve been working tirelessly in horrific conditions and I have been overwhelmed by their professionalism and their bravery.
At times like this the response of the community has been extraordinary. It has shown the great spirit of the people in response to a tragedy such as this.
The government stands ready to provide every assistance to the emergency services and the local authorities.
I want to reassure the residents of Grenfell Tower – all of whom are in our thoughts and prayers – that the government will make every effort to make sure that they are rehoused in London and as close as possible to home.
May has been criticised by political opponents, including the former deputy Labour leader, Harriet Harman:
Theresa May should have met #GrenfellFire residents. She should have been prepared to listen to them Not OK to speak at them via TV
— Harriet Harman (@HarrietHarman) June 15, 2017
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, issued a statement after meeting residents.
I feel very angry that it was possible for the fire to spread in the way it did. I feel very angry that so many lives have been lost when the system didn’t work.
The many residents I met today are very angry too; their concerns about the building were not responded to and their questions were not answered.
They asked me to speak for them when I get back to parliament and I will make sure I do, alongside their new MP, Emma Dent Coad.
There are thousands of tower blocks around our country. Every single person living in one today will be frightened. They need answers to provide them with security and peace of mind.
Updated
NHS England has updated the number of people currently being treated: 30 people are being looked after at six hospitals, of which 15 people are in a critical condition.
Officials say they will not be providing a further update on those numbers today.
Updated
The police and fire minister, Nick Hurd, has promised the public inquiry will “leave absolutely no stone unturned”.
He said the investigation will seek to produce a “factually-based understanding of what happened” and the events which led to the fire.
Hurd indicated that a previously promised review of building regulations would not now be published until after the inquiry.
Asked why the review, promised after the inquest into the Lakanal House blaze eight years ago, had not been published, he said:
Our commitment is to a full public inquiry where everything needs to be looked at in the round.
This is a very complicated situation, it is an absolutely unprecedented fire in the observation of those who fought it. We need to understand what happened on that dreadful night and, as the prime minister has said, get a really proper factually-based, evidence-based understanding of what happened on that night, and what happened in the run-in to that night.
The Guardian’s graphics team has produced this flowchart mapping out the relationships between Grenfell Tower’s owners, managers, and contractors who were linked to its refurbishment project in 2016.
During his visit to the scene, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan told residents he had called on ministers to release an interim report on the disaster, saying there were “questions that demand answers” and that “we can’t afford to wait many years for those answers”.
He said the public inquiry would focus on the recent refurbishment work carried out on Grenfell Tower.
One of the things the public inquiry will look into is the refurbishment of the tower blocks and whether the tower block was refurbished in a safe way. There are obvious questions about value for money and other questions that will be raised and other questions that demand answers.
We can’t afford to wait many years for those answers. Which is why I am today calling for an interim report to be published this summer.
Updated
Senior Labour politicians have backed the idea put forward by the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to requisition vacant houses on behalf of people left homeless by the tower block fire.
Lots of homes left vacant in Kensington & Chelsea by overseas investors. I would like to see them requisitioned by Govnt to rehouse victims.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 15, 2017
Loads of empty flats (land banks) in Kensington. @jeremycorbyn right that govt should requisition to rehouse Grenfell survivors
— Harriet Harman (@HarrietHarman) June 15, 2017
A small but noticeable number of people on the streets of north Kensington are wearing face masks. There’s a notable, acrid smell of burnt plastic hanging over the whole area, which is carried by the breeze. There are also clouds of either smoke or dust still billowing from the tower.
Air pollution experts at Kings College London say there has only been a small rise in particle pollution since the fire. But local residents are unsure.
“I can feel it in my throat and I recognise there’s a lot of dust and toxins. God knows what’s in the air really,” said Esme Giuliana, 54, wearing a mask she was given at the Westway sports centre yesterday. “It’s coming off the building: you don’t know if there’s asbestos, aluminium, heavy metals going into your lungs. It could be quite serious.”
The NU-Line tool shop donated all the face masks they had available yesterday. Joe, 30, a personal trainer who asked not to give his surname, said he was wearing a mask because “when you pass down towards the Westway it’s a lot stronger, the smell. The wind’s blowing down that side”.
Joe spent nine hours volunteering at Notting Hill Methodist church yesterday, and only wore a mask minimally. By the end of the day, “I was coughing like crazy,” he said. “I haven’t had a cough in ages so it was definitely that.”
Jennifer Nettles, 37, was helping direct volunteers at the door of the church. “As the wind’s shifting around the neighbourhood, it’s blowing debris, dust, ash - whatever was in the building,” she said.
“Yesterday, some of us started coughing fits from the fire. Right now, I can feel my throat’s burning. I’m concerned for everyone who’s working around the building,” she said. “You don’t know what the building was made off. There’s fear, are you going to have any long-term consequences.”
She added: “As far as I can see, there’s nothing coming from the council.”
Updated
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has just been addressing local residents and members of the media near the scene of the disaster. He said that the response of the firefighters and the other emergency services was “breathtaking” on Wednesday, that they had shown “heroism” and gone “above and beyond the call of duty” in running towards danger.
Khan said their reaction - and that of the local community - should make people across the capital proud to be Londoners.
He attacked recent changes to legal aid laws that have “denied people access to justice”, which he said many residents of Grenfell Tower needed in order to improve their living conditions. “It’s important that the community has the opportunity to raise these questions and is properly represented” in court, he told the crowd.
Khan said tower blocks across London needed to be looked at as a matter of urgency. “Some checks are being undertaken as we speak but they need to be sped up”, he said.
Responding to questions from the audience that had gathered, he also acknowledged concerns about people being rehoused locally and addressed issues in recent years around communities being “split, communities being divided”.
He told the crowd it was “really important that the council rehouses people locally in the short-term and in the long-term” and said he had been given assurances that that would happen.
Updated
Police said they had used a passport found near one body to gain a preliminary identification. Of the 17 dead, they have obtained the identities of six people so far.
The recovery of bodies will take weeks or months, Cundy said: “We can only do it when it is safe to do so.”
Police and firefighters are taking advice from urban search and rescue experts and have not been able to thoroughly search some of the higher floors of the block. Fires have restarted in the block today.
Identification will use dental records, DNA and fingerprints, Cundy said. One police officer who worked to identify victims of the Boxing Day tsunami is part of the Met’s Grenfell Tower inquiry team.
Sources said the the starting point of any criminal investigation was the
recovery and identification of the victims. Cundy refused to be drawn on whether detectives wound examine corporate manslaughter charges, stressing that investigations were just starting and that scene was still too dangerous to thoroughly examine.
Updated
Six victims provisionally identified, says Scotland Yard
Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan police has just issued an update on the search for victims in the shell of Grenfell Tower.
He says six victims have so far been provisionally identified, but he added that “there is a risk that sadly we may not be able to identify everybody”.
The Guardian’s Vikram Dodd has filed this:
Cundy said some victims of the fire may never be identified and that he hopes the death toll will not reach over 100. He said six bodies had been found outside the block of 120 flats, another 11 dead are inside. He declined to say how many are missing, and that it was not “inevitable” the death toll will reach triple figures.
Cundy said police had been hampered in their search of the block because of the potential dangers, and it was one of the most difficulty operations the Met had ever carried out. The force is still investigating all the circumstances of the fire, and could not yet say whether a crime had been committed. He said 5,000 calls had been received about people feared to be inside when the fire ripped through the flats.
Updated
The first pictures of the scenes inside Grenfell Tower in the aftermath of the fire have emerged, showing the extent of the devastation facing firefighters searching the building.
The photographs show a gutted flat containing the charred remains of a family’s possessions. In one kitchen there is a blackened oven, washing machine and fridge, while flames still flicker in one corner.
The windows are entirely without glass, while a clothes drier and cooking pots lie among the debris. In another picture firefighters make their way through the tower’s smoky corridors.
Updated
The Grenfell Tower tragedy occurs in the context of a long-term decline in the number of fire incidents, with both fires and fire-related deaths falling over the long term, government statistics show.
National statistics from the Home Office show that the number of incidents attended by fire and rescue services in Great Britain last year was 654,571. That was down from a peak of 830,161 in 2009-10, but up from the previous year’s low of 617,210.
Of the callouts attended by fire and rescue services last year, false alarms and incidents unrelated to fires were more common than actual fires. Of the 529,362 incidents attended by fire and rescue in England last year, only 162,223 - just over 30% - were fires. 214,359 - 40% - were false alarms.
Deaths as a result of fires are also growing increasingly rare. Last year 367 people died in fires, compared with a figure 20 years ago of 696, a fall of almost half.
Updated
The Press Association reports that the lawyer for the family of Gloria Trevisan, an Italian architecture graduate missing after the Grenfell Tower fire, has told Italian media there is “no hope” of finding her or her partner Marco Gottardi alive:
Friends and relatives of the couple have been appealing for information after Trevisan called her mother from the tower block in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“I’ve heard the recording of Gloria talking to her mother and there is no hope of finding them alive,” said the lawyer, Maria Cristina Sandrin, in a filmed interview with Italian press.
Trevisan reportedly called her mother at 3am, saying a fire had broken out in the building and they were waiting for help.
“They wanted to go down but said they could see the flames going up the stairs and the smoke was more and more intense,” Loris Trevisan, Gloria’s father, told the local newspaper Il Mattino di Padova.
The line was disconnected shortly afterwards, Mr Trevisan said, and “hundreds” of attempts to get back in touch had come to nothing.
Giannino Gottardi, father of Marco, told Il Mattino his son had called at 3.45am, then again just after 4am. Gottardi Sr said: “In the first call Marco told us not to worry, that everything was under control, that basically we must not worry. He was trying to minimise what happened, probably not to unsettle us. But in the second call, and I can’t get this out of my head, he said there was smoke, that so much smoke was rising.”
Trevisan, who completed her master’s degree in architecture at the University of Venice last October, had travelled to London with Gottardi to find work, according to Sandrin.
The couple recently moved into their apartment on the 23rd floor of Grenfell Tower, which went up in flames on Wednesday morning. Emergency services have so far searched up to the 20th floor, but concerns over the structural integrity of the tower block have forced firefighters to suspend full searches for the time being.
“She said goodbye,” said Sandrin of Gloria’s phone call to her parents. “She said: ‘Thank you, Mother, for what you have done for me.’”
She asked journalists to give the family privacy, as “we don’t know in what condition we will find the bodies, [or even] if we will find the bodies. The first thought for the family is to bring them back home,” she added.
Updated
Peter Vanezis, professor of forensic medical sciences at Barts and the London, who helped identify the final victim of the 1987 King’s Cross fire, said that identifying those who died would be likely to take months.
Investigators will rely on unburnt documentation, tattoos, dental records and DNA to produce a full list of those who died. In major indoor fires, deaths are normally caused by fume inhalation rather than by the flames, he said:
If it’s any consolation to the relatives, they’re normally unconscious when the fire takes over. It’s normally substantial inhalation of carbon monoxide. It’s odourless, you get a bit of nausea and a headache and then you pass out.
Updated
There is a growing sense of anger and frustration among the crowds gathered under the Westway flyover where volunteers are sorting and boxing donations.
One volunteer, Sinead O’Hare, said the fire and loss of life had tapped into a deeper sense of resentment and alienation.
“People are angry about years of Tory policy of cutting corners and costs, and refusing to take responsibility. The interests of the Tory party are closely allied to the interests of business and private landlords,” she said.
People from other parts of London who are homeless and hungry had started turning up in the area hoping for food and other necessities, she said.
The media is one target for resentment. “You press people didn’t come here when people were blogging about the danger. You only come when people are dead,” said Calvin Benson, who was carrying a handmade sign saying: “I am not a photo opportunity.”
“You pick and choose your stories. The blogs have been active for years but no one was interested.”
Several photographers and camera operators have been pushed, jabbed and shouted at as anger and tension have overtaken initial shock at the fire.
Updated
JustGiving has said that £1.65m has been raised so far through several donation pages published on the website. One page, set up under the name Haley Yearwood, has raised £783,878 of its target of £1m. Yearwood wrote:
The money raised will go to the residents of Grenfell Tower and will hopefully, even in some small way, help them with whatever they may need in the aftermath.
Marilyn Barford was one of many people who donated and left a comment on the page, saying: “I hope in time these people will all be able to rebuild their lives. My heart goes out to them all.”
Another fundraising page, set up by Anass Boudarka, reached over £20,000 on Wednesday. It is now up to £38,510. Boudarka said: “I am an A-Level student living in Kensington trying to help as many people as possible in their time of need. Please help us do this by donating.”
A spokesperson from JustGiving said:
The swell in generosity for those involved in the awful fire at Grenfell Tower has been astonishing. Not only through the hundreds of pages set up on JustGiving, but also those sending supplies to the area. We’ll keep working to ensure that those who want to give can, easily and safely.
Updated
Amid the terrible fallout of the Grenfell Tower disaster, one potential risk has been ruled out: that of a major spike in air pollution across west London.
Air pollution experts at King’s College London (KCL) have been monitoring the impact of the blaze on air quality but detected only a small rise in particle pollution in nearby Brent on Wednesday morning, carried there by the north-west wind prevailing at the time.
This is because the smoke was lifted high into the air by the heat of the fire and dispersed over a large area before it returned to ground.
Concentrations of pollution rose to 80 microgrammes per cubic metre for half an hour after 7am. But averaged across the day, the level remained well below the 24 hour EU limit of 50μg/m3.
“There was a tiny bit of air pollution, but really tiny,” said Gary Fuller at KCL.
The nature of the fire means the impact close to the site is also likely to have been small. “What normally happens is that the fire is very intense and the smoke is lofted up high and then it gets carried some distance away,” Fuller said.
“So you often don’t see effects really close by, but you do see them a few kilometres away.”
Similar small spikes were seen after a large warehouse fire on the site of what is now the Olympic Park in 2007 and the fires during the 2011 London riots.
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All Grenfell Tower families to be rehoused locally, MPs told
At the Home Office briefing in Westminster Hall David Lammy repeats his call for a criminal investigation. He says a public inquiry should not hold up criminal investigations.
Harriet Harman says that, after the Lakanal House fire, residents did not get legal representation at the public inquiry. She asks for an assurance that this will not happen again.
Alok Sharma, the housing minister, says the inquiry will be under the Inquiries Act.
As for reassurance that can be given to people living in tower blocks, he says the government wants councils and housing providers to carry out checks on property as quickly as possible. He suggests the communities department will be saying more about this later.
Jeremy Corbyn asks for an assurance that there will be a proper ministerial statement in the Commons when the Commons starts sitting again.
Nick Hurd, the fire minister, is now wrapping up.
He says rebuilding lives will be a long-term process. Parliament needs to hold ministers to account throughout that, he says.
He says at the ministerial meeting he chaired to determine the government’s response, he sought to push the system very hard. He told officials they should act as if it were their friends and family who were involved.
Around the country local authorities and the fire service must ask themselves if the advice they are giving is clear enough.
On housing, he says he hopes that after the ministerial meeting later today he can give families needing housing the assurances Karen Buck (see 2.29pm) said they should have.
He ends by saying this seems to have been a very unusual fire. We need to understand what happened, he says.
Labour’s Clive Efford says Hurd should be more specific about resources. Will the government give local authorities what they need?
Hurd says the government is in “no doubt” about the need to help. “Resources aren’t the issue here,” he says.
Sharma, the housing minister, adds a final point.
- Every family from Grenfell Tower that needs to be rehoused will be rehoused locally, housing minister Alok Sharma tells MPs.
And that’s it. The session is over.
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There are chaotic scenes underneath the Westway flyover. People have been bringing donations here for about 24 hours and now they are now being loaded on to vans, which have nowhere to take them.
“We need warehouse space,” said a volunteer, David Peters. “We’ve spent the night packing donated goods into labelled boxes and we’re loading them on vans. We’ve got five full vans with nowhere to go. They are just sitting waiting for instructions.”
None of the local community centres has capacity to take donations, he said. “We don’t even need more volunteers.”
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From the 11th floor balcony of Jose de Faria’s home in nearby Adair Tower, the blackened skeleton of Grenfell Tower is half a mile away.
His friend Marcia Gomes and her family lived on the 21st floor of the gutted high rise. “She is now in an induced coma in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation,” he said.
I was up late that night. I tried to go to sleep but heard a helicopter, got up and looked out of the window. Grenfell Tower was like a match flaring.
Then I woke up my wife and we called our friends on the 21st floor. I told them to get out but they didn’t leave. They were told twice by 999 to stay put.
It was about 1.20am. I went down there. I rang her again and said they should leave. That was 3.24am. The fire brigade said they were going to get the family.
Then her side of the building erupted into flames. Seconds after, I think, they decided to run for their lives. Their youngest daughter went at the front.
As they were coming down the stairs, [her husband told me in hospital] they were stepping over bodies. He’s still in shock.
Like Marcia Gomes, Jose de Faria belongs to the large Portuguese community that has been settled in north Kensington for many decades.
The fire brigade only got up to the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower, he said, and did not reach the trapped family. While Adair Tower has two separate stairwells, he added, there was only one in Grenfell Tower.
It was Marcia Gomes’s second high rise fire. She had been visiting the De Faria family last October when a fire broke out on the third floor of Adair Tower. It did not spread beyond that floor but sent smoke billowing through the whole building.
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The London fire brigade has urged Grenfell Tower residents to come to Portobello club to mark themselves as safe.
Key information for those affected by the fire at #GrenfellTower. For emergency rest centres visit @RBKC's website: https://t.co/vrCt46ZlJR pic.twitter.com/TpM5BSTxKO
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 15, 2017
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Leigh Day, a law firm that represented 40 victims of the 2016 Shepherd’s Bush tower block fire and advised the residents’ committee after the fatal Lakanal House fire in 2009 in Camberwell, has welcomed the public inquiry.
Composite panels or “sandwich panels” at Lakanal House were described at the coroner’s hearing as two external layers filled with a sort of blown or aerated foam. They had been fitted during a major refurbishment of Lakanal House in 2006.
In her narrative verdict in the inquest after the tragedy, the coroner, Frances Kirkham, said the replacement of composite panels on Lakanal House had “had a significant impact on the fire resistance of the external wall”.
Initial reports suggest composite panels recently fitted to Grenfell Tower during a refurbishment may have contributed to the spread of the fire.
Thomas Jervis from Leigh Day, who acts on behalf of 40 victims of the Shepherd’s Bush fire, which is believed to have been started by a faulty appliance, said: “A full public inquiry is overdue as many people across the world have paid with their lives for high rise living.
“We await the findings as to the cause of the blaze but we would call on the authorities to take urgent action to identify those buildings which may be at immediate risk.”
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The Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy says the inquiry should be conducted under the Inquiries Act, so that people can be compelled to give evidence and made to give evidence under oath.
Labour’s Mary Creagh says this was “a manmade disaster”. She says Sharma said it was up to local authorities to enforce building regulations. But she says councils work in according to guidelines set by government. And she says when there is a flood, the Bellwin scheme kicks in to ensure councils get the extra money they need. Why can’t the same thing happen here?
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Several flats in Grenfell Tower had been advertised for sale or rent after being bought under the right-to-buy scheme.
A two-bedroom flat on the 15th floor was recently marketed by Foxtons for £250,000. The agents promoted the home as “a very light and well-proportioned two-bedroomed apartment situated on the 15th floor of this purpose-built block and featuring ample storage space and far-reaching views over London.”
One two-bedroom flat on the 18th floor was advertised last December for £455 a week rent, or £1,772 a month.
The estate agents described the flat as “a fabulous bright two-bedroom flat furnished within three minutes’ walk to Latimer Road tube station. The flat is on 18th floor of the newly renovated Grenfell Tower with panoramic views of London landmarks.”
Another two-bedroom flat on Rightmove was advertised as available from 6 May for £395 a week or £1,712 a month. Photographs advertising the flat show it had been redecorated with a new kitchen and wooden floors.
Acccording to Rightmove, three flats had sold recently, including one in 2013 for £185,000 and another for £270,000.
Traditional mortgage lenders often refuse to lend on high rise buildings, so they are often bought as rental investments instead of by owner-occupiers.
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Data confirms extreme inequality around Grenfell Tower.
From the top floors of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower, residents could see out across Kensington and Chelsea, one of the wealthiest local authorities in the country. But the tower and its residents were situated in one of the most deprived areas in England.
The borough is among London’s most unequal, with extreme poverty and wealth living side by side. Data shows that the vicinity of the tower was among the top 10% most deprived areas in England in 2015, ranking alongside parts of Bradford and south Tyneside.
According to the English Indices of Deprivation, there were 11 so-called lower super output areas (LSOAs) in Kensington and Chelsea that ranked in the poorest decile in the country. On the other hand, 14 areas in the local authority were among 30% least deprived.
The constituency of Kensington, which makes up most of the local authority of Kensington and Chelsea, is the wealthiest in England, with an average income tax bill of £51,000 per taxpayer in 2014-15. The average terraced house sold for £4.3m in 2016. The median weekly household income varies widely across the local authority, from £670 to £1,380.
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Jeremy Corbyn spent half an hour at St Clement’s church, one of the centres coordinating the community response, and pledged to help residents find answers about the fire.
“We have to get to the bottom of this,” he said as community leaders showed him the donations that had been pouring in since the disaster.
He repeated his pledge on leaving the church, before heading to parliament to raise questions about the fire.
“There is desperate stress and sadness,” he said. “There are still bodies to find in that dreadful building. We will demand and get answers.”
Earlier, Theresa May visited the tower but did not meet local residents. The prime minister was photographed on a long lens talking to senior figures from the emergency services. Later she announced a public inquiry into the inferno.
Along with other community centres, St Clement’s church had closed its doors to donations by Wednesday morning, telling a stream of people arriving with bags and boxes that it could not cope with more items.
A man representing Pizza Express told a volunteer the company wanted to deliver “hundreds and hundreds of pizzas”. The offer was declined.
The local activists Eve Wedderburn and Dayo Gilmour tried to get into the church to speak to Corbyn but were blocked by volunteers.
“We want to tell him that we fear a cover-up over the fire, and that the council will use this as an opportunity to move people out of the borough,” said Wedderburn.
“We don’t trust anybody,” said Gilmour. “The voices of small people need to be heard.”
Father Gillean Craig, the vicar of St Mary Abbots on Kensington High Street, said the area dean had set up a rota of clergy to be on hand day and night.
“When I left at 11pm last night, you could hardly get out for the flow of people laden down with donations.
“But support is going to be needed for a very long time yet, and it might need to be professional help because of the level of trauma. It’s wonderful to sit alongside people but the enormity of what’s taken place will take time to seep through, and people will need extraordinary help.”
Many residents of blocks close to Grenfell Tower were still excluded from their homes on Wednesday, although a few were allowed back under escort to collect personal items.
One family of six, who declined to give their names, said they had slept in their car on Tuesday night after waiting for hours for the council to provide accommodation. “We just got too tired waiting. We’d been up since 1am when we were evacuated,” said one of them.
A group of residents were camping on a patch of ground near their cordoned-off flats.
William Wake, who was also displaced as a result of the fire, claimed that the Westfield shopping centre had offered to pay for hotel accommodation but the gesture had been rejected by the council.
“They claimed to have it all under control,” he said.
Fahim Mazhary was one of several locals who expressed fears about “social cleansing”. The fire was a “golden opportunity” for the council to rehouse people outside the borough, he said.
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Labour’s Hilary Benn says people in Grenfell Tower were advised to stay in their flats in the event of a fire. But they will have seen people on TV saying they ignored this advice and survived. He says it is essential that people in tower blocks get proper advice, as soon as possible, about what they should do.
Labour’s Stephen Timms asks about the status of the review of fire regulations that was requested by the coroner after a previous tower block fire.
Nick Hurd says the TV cameras are now being turned on, so you should be able to watch this on the parliament channel.
Alok Sharma, the housing minister, says every family that needs to be rehoused will be helped.
On the point about building regulations, he says the government did write to landlords after the Lakanal House fire. New fire regulations were issued, he says. There was also due to be a review of fire regulations in 2017-18, he says. He says the scope of that may change in the light of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Labour’s Karen Buck says the government today should tell every family that needs housing as a result of the fire that they will get it. They want the reassurance, she says. Nick Hurd, the fire minister, says he will take that point away to the ministerial meeting on this that he is chairing later.
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The family of 12-year-old Jessica Urbano, missing since the fire, are “getting desperate” for news as they search hospitals. Jessica was last seen on the 20th floor of the block. She became separated in the chaos.
Her uncle, Carlos Ruiz, said: “We have just been trying everything – searching all the hospitals, twice, three times over. We haven’t heard anything yet.
“We are aware of other families in the same situation – just waiting. It may take a long time to collect everyone’s details. This is a 12-year-old girl and her parents are getting desperate now. All the family are,” he told the Press Association.
A tearful female relative showed a missing poster of Jessica to the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, during his visit to St Clement’s church and begged for him to help find her.
The poster, which the family has distributed, reads: “Have you seen Jessica Urbano? Missing from Grenfell Tower fire. Jessica is 12 years, approx 5ft with brown eyes and long curly hair.” The family requested journalists not to ring the numbers on her missing poster. “Those numbers are just for people with information about Jessica,” said her uncle.
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Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now at the briefing. He has just come from the scene of the fire. He says he feels “very angry” that people have lost their lives like this and that so many people are now “traumatised” by what happened. They have a horrible wait for the fire service to find the bodies of their loved ones.
He says residents are very angry that they raised concerns which were ignored, for example about alarms and about sprinklers.
There are thousands of tower blocks, and hundreds of thousands of people living in them. Every single one of those people will today be frightened and traumatised.
He welcomes the fact the inquiry is taking place, but says the residents must get help to ensure they are legally represented.
And he says residents should not be shipped out to seaside towns.
Kensington is a tale of two cities. The southern part is incredibly wealthy. But the ward where this happened is the poorest in the country, he says.
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The Labour MP Karen Buck says until 2010 Grenfell Tower was in her constituency. She says she was there this morning, and the word that struck her was “accountability”. Not blame, but accountability. And they want it quickly.
She says many MP have thousands of residents living in tower blocks. They will want to be reassured. And they need the government to pay for any safety measures needed. Anyone who has been made homeless will need to know that their needs will be met too.
Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, is speaking now. She is MP for Camberwell and Peckham, where six people died in a tower block fire in 2009. She says she know that after this survivors were left without anything, even a phone. They need the state to provide help, she says.
And she says there must not be delays. She says, with the Lakanal House fire, the inquest did not take place until four years later, and prosecutions took another two years.
She says the Lakanal House fire happened after the building had been refurbished. The same thing happened at Grenfell Tower, she says.
She says MPs must make the resources available to stop this happening again.
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The former chair of the Grenfell Tower residents’ association has said his warnings of the risks of a catastrophic fire were ignored because of a “vacuum of accountability” in the building’s management.
David Collins lived in the building between April 2014 and October 2016. He was one of the administrators of the blog that warned extensively of structural dangers in the 24-storey block.
He moved out shortly before another member of the association wrote that a serious fire was a real possibility, and likely to be the only thing that would force change. After the devastating blaze that ripped through the building, killing at least 17 people, Collins said a public inquiry – which Theresa May announced on Thursday – was long overdue.
“It’s what we asked for 18 months ago,” he told the Guardian. “It’s what we deserve now.”
When Collins woke on Wednesday morning to the news, he said, “I was appalled, I was angry, I was upset – but I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised. The worst-case scenario was a fire. We knew there would have to be a tragedy before someone would do something.”
Nick Hurd and Alok Sharma are now taking questions.
Emma Dent Coad, the new Labour MP for Kensington, goes first. She says the community is “traumatised and angry”. She says she wants to know if fire regulations were implemented, and if warnings from community leaders were heeded. And she wants to know whether the emergency services had the ability to cope.
John Healey, the shadow housing minister, is now speaking on behalf of the front bench (although technically a briefing, this feels like a parliamentary statement). Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is here, sitting alongside Healey, and says he plans to speak later. Healey says no fire in a single flat should have led to such devastation. No one should sleep in fear in a tower block. And no minister should rest until all the questions have been answered.
He says the PM should appoint a cabinet minister to lead the cross-departmental work that will need to be done to stop this happening again.
He asks when the PM will publish details of the inquiry.
And the government does not need to wait until the inquiry is over. There are recommendations from coroners from previous fires, and sprinklers could be installed in tower blocks now, he says.
Labour’s David Lammy says this has been described as a national tragedy. But the Commons has passed an act creating an offence of corporate manslaughter. Lammy says a criminal investigation needs to take place. He says the impact of the cladding created a chimney effect.He says his friend, Khadija Saye, was on Facebook at 3.30am, two hourss after it started, saying she was trapped by the fire. She did not get help, he says.
Lammy says he knows from the London riots that it can take years for people who lose their homes to rebuild their lives. There is an Act that obliges the state to pay compensation to people affected by riots. Will the state help out in this case, he asks.
Ministerial briefing for MPs about the Grenfell Tower fire
Nick Hurd, the fire minister, and Alok Sharma, the housing minister, are starting a briefing for MPs at Westminster.
It is taking place in the Westminster Hall mini-chamber, but it is not a proceeding of parliament, because the Commons is not sitting yet. It is technically a Home Office briefing. It is not being televised, and parliamentary privilege does not apply.
I’m in the room to cover it. Hurd is just beginning. He says it is an appalling tragedy, but we do not know yet how many people have been killed. He praises the emergency services and people in the community who have rallied around to help.
He says so far 17 people have been confirmed dead. Another 35 people are in hospital.
The fire is now considered to be under control, he says.
He says, for the coroner’s investigation to be effective, sufficient time has to be allowed for bodies to be identified.
The cause of the fire has not yet been identified, he says.
This is an exceptionally complex investigation and likely to take many months.
He says he would expect all housing providers, particularly those in charge of tower blocks, to make sure their buildings are safe.
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May promises to rehouse Grenfell Tower residents
In her statement May also promised to rehouse in London all those whose homes were lost in the Grenfell Tower fire. She also talked of the “great spirit of the community”.
Here are the key bits of her statement.
They [the emergency services] have been working tirelessly in horrific conditions and I’ve been overwhelmed by their professionalism and their bravery. I heard stories of firefighters running into the building being protected from the falling debris by police officers using their riot shields.
At times like this the response of the community has been extraordinary and it has shown the great spirit of people in responding to a tragedy such as this. I’ve ordered that the cross-government group that is meeting to ensure that the response is properly coordinated will meet again today. The government stands ready to provide every assistance necessary to the emergency services and to the local authority.
We have all heard heartbreaking stories of the people who were caught up in this terrible, terrible tragedy. I want to reassure the residents of Grenfell Tower, all of whom are in our thoughts and prayers, that the government will make every effort to ensure that they are rehoused in London and as close as possible to home.
Right now people want answers and its absolutely right. That’s why I am today ordering a full public inquiry into this disaster. We need to know what happened. We need to have an explanation of this. We owe that to the families, to the people who have lost loved ones, friends and the homes in which they lived.
May ducked a question about whether the government’s decision to delay the publication of a fire safety report contributed to the disaster. She added:
What we need to do is ensure that this terrible tragedy is properly investigated. That’s why I’m ordering a full public inquiry so we can get to the answers. It became clear to me this morning that that was necessary, because when I visited the scene, when I spoke to the emergency services, they told me that the way this fire progressed was rapid, it was ferocious and it was unexpected. So it is right that we do have a full public inquiry to get to the bottom of this.
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Siân Berry, Green Party Member of the London Assembly and chair of its housing committee, told the Guardian the committee had called for stronger building regulations, including fire safety measures, in tower blocks after the Lakanal House fire, which killed six people in Camberwell, south London, in 2010. The committee called for clearer building regulations and higher quality fire assessments.
“They realised it was a mess and people doing inspections were not qualified to say whether buildings were safe,” she said. “The system was not fit for purpose in giving residents assurance their buildings have good fire safety or what to do in the event of a fire.” In 2010, she said, the committee found 20% of safety assessments of tall residential buildings were inadequate.
But an update to the building regulations that was due in 2012 still hasn’t happened. “The government has a lot to answer for,” Berry said. “Residents all around London who live in similar blocks will want to know what’s the safety of their buildings,” she said. “That can be done urgently by councils.”
Blocks that have been re-clad, as Grenfell Tower was, will need particularly urgent attention, she said. The implications of the fire are “absolutely enormous” for London’s councils and housing management bodies, but the central government needs to take action too, she said. “Of course if you don’t make it statutory for sprinklers [to be provided], private companies won’t necessarily provide them,” she said.
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The parents of five-year-old Isaac Shawo have made a desperate plea for information about him since he went missing during the fire. Genet Shawo and her husband Paulos Petakle, a taxi driver, were making their way to safety from their 18th floor flat with their children Luca, three, and Isaac when he became separated. Isaac was holding a neighbour’s hand and got lost in the thick black smoke, his mother told the Evening Standard.
The family have heard no news of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic primary pupil since. His mother told the paper:
I will not fear the worst. I am still hoping and praying for him. He is a beautiful boy.
He told us during the fire that he didn’t want us to die. My neighbour said he would hold him and and bring him down. But when I got outside I realised Issac wasn’t there. I have been to all the emergency centres, all the hospitals and there is no news of him.
It is also understood that the engineering student Mohammed Al Haj Ali, 24, who had fled Syria, is one of the victims. He reportedly became separated from his 25-year-old brother Omar as they fled the flames and was reported missing. Omar remains in hospital. The brothers fled Daraa in Syria for the UK three years ago. The Syrian Solidarity Campaign Facebook page said he had died in the blaze, which was confirmed by one of the student’s friends.
Mohammed’s friend Mahmoud, who shared a flat with the brothers, spoke to the Guardian yesterday when Mohammed’s loved ones still hoped he would be found. Mahmoud last spoke to his friend at around 3.30am.
He was saying help me. My friend who escaped went to one flat and he went to another. They lost each other …
He was saying please help me. Please tell my family I love them. He sounded very scared.
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Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has withdrawn from the Mansion House speech in the City of London tonight, citing the fire.
He said: “In view of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, I have withdrawn from giving the Mansion House speech tonight. My thoughts are with local community.”
Theresa May says the community around the Grenfell Tower are right to demand answers.
In a pooled interviewed she confirmed that she had ordered a full inquiry. “We need to ensure that this tragedy is fully investigated. People deserve answers. The inquiry will give them,” she said.
She said she overwhelmed by the bravery of the firefighters when she visited the scene today.
Here’s audio of her statement.
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The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has confirmed that the death count has risen to 17 and has demanded an interim report into towers refurbished in the same way as Grenfell Tower.
He said:
The Metropolitan police have confirmed that tragically 17 people are now known to have died in the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower. Sadly this figure is likely to rise, and my thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected.
Today the fire has been brought under control and the fire brigade and our other emergency services are continuing to work heroically. The operation is now shifting from the search and rescue phase to the recovery phase.
Under these circumstances the full scale of the tragedy is becoming clear and there are pressing questions, which demand urgent answers.
That is why I am demanding a full, independent public inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower. In light of concerns about the safety of other tower blocks that have been similarly refurbished the inquiry needs to produce an interim report by the end of this summer at the latest.
Meanwhile, any family and friends concerned about their loved ones should contact Casualty Bureau on 0800 0961 233.
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May orders full inquiry
The prime minister, Theresa May, has ordered a full public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster.
May said the inquiry was needed to ensure “this terrible tragedy is properly investigated”.
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The pictures of Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to the scene were very different from those of the visit of the prime minister.
Theresa May was photographed on a long lens talking to senior figures from the emergency services. She was criticised for not meeting residents, whereas Corbyn was seen chatting to residents and volunteers.
Corbyn visited St Clement’s church, where volunteers have set up a refuge centre. He met volunteers and community leaders as they showed him the donations that have been pouring in since the disaster.
“It’s great that you’re in place,” he told them. Labour has called for an inquiry into the disaster. Corbyn said: “The truth has got to come out and it will.”
The Labour MP David Lammy approved:
Very pleased to see @jeremycorbyn listening to residents of Glenfell Tower. From experience of 2011 riots will take years to rebuild lives
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 15, 2017
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Camden council, in north London, is conducting “additional fire safety checks” to reassure residents in its tower blocks following reports that the firm responsible for the cladding in the Grenfell Tower disaster was also involved in recladding on five blocks in the borough.
A spokesman said:
Camden has a robust fire safety policy in place and we will continue to work closely with the London fire brigade to ensure our fire safety procedures meet the latest advice and guidance. All housing blocks on our estates receive fire risk assessments and additional fire safety checks will now be made to continue to reassure residents.
We stand ready to respond to any new advice from London fire brigade that may emerge from today’s tragic incident.
Earlier today Construction Enquirer reported that the two firms involved in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment also delivered a bigger project in the Chalcot Estate in the north London borough as part of a £18m revamp under the Private Finance Initiative.
The Chalcot estate in Swiss Cottage consists of 706 homes in five tower blocks - Taplow, Bray, Burnham, Dorney, and Blashford – rising to 23 storeys.
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Adel Chaoui from London, whose cousin Farah Hamdan, her husband Omar Belkadi and their six-month-old daughter Leena Belkadi are missing, urged the police to release more information.
He said: “I have been asking police if there are any unidentified people in hospitals. I want them to let us know but they are saying that they cannot give information and don’t have it to hand. All we want to know is whether anyone has not been identified yet.”
He added: “We just need more information. We are talking to sympathetic police officers but they are worried about saying too much in case they break protocol and lose their jobs. One police officer in the hospital yesterday was so moved by my story that she let me look at a list of names of people in the hospital. She wanted to show me that they were not hiding anyone. I didn’t get to see the ward, however, so I am not sure if anyone was misidentified. But at least that was something. The officers are humans after all.”
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Corbyn: 'the truth has to come out'
Jeremy Corbyn has been seen meeting residents and community leaders at the scene. He said “the truth has got to come out and will come out” as he visited volunteers helping after the Grenfell Tower fire.
“The community needs you,” one resident told Corbyn.
He toured the area with the shadow housing minister, John Healey, and the new Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad.
Earlier Theresa May visited the scene but did not meet residents.
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There's a tribute wall by the Latymer Christian Centre #GrenfellTower pic.twitter.com/hWMu9H10OU
— Alice Ross (@aliceross_) June 15, 2017
A tribute wall has been set up by the Latymer Christian Centre, where many have expressed anger at the fire.
Messages quoting Christian scripture sit alongside those mentioning Allah, while others express solidarity.
“Bonds formed in fire are difficult to break – our community will always stand together,” one reads.
Others record defiance and anger. “Justice for Grenfell. Jail those responsible,” says one. “I was watching the fire spread & engulf all the building from 1am, just helpless. Your memories will be forever with me. RIP. Go to hell all those responsible.”
Lex Quiambao, 30, stopped to reflect and write a message on his way to work at Wetherspoons. “Thinking of people we lost we pray for our sorrows to the end,” it read, in small blue capital letters.
He had come “to show I have a heart for the people and community, that we all live together and share in the neighbourhood”.
Quiambao lives in Westervale House, a tower block overlooking Grenfell Tower.
“I noticed a smell that came to my apartment, like a barbecue smell … I watched the whole thing burn to a crisp so quickly.”
The day after, he feels “numb”, he said. “There’s no feelings … empty and cold.” He added: “[I’m] living my normal, usual life but my emotions keep tugging me … that sense, the images, the horrors, everything burning so quickly.”
Miriam Andrew, who lives over the road from Latymer Christian Centre, said: “It just feels like a dream – or more like a nightmare … its like living in a different world.”
She wanted “justice to be done”, adding: “We’ve got quite a lot of buildings around here with a similar type of cladding. The government and the councils, they need to make sure people have adequate fire safety in their homes. That’s the job of government, isn’t it: regulation.”
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Summary: here's what we know so far
- At least 17 people have died in Wednesday’s fire at Grenfell Tower. Police have said the death toll is likely to rise.
- Sniffer dogs are being sent into the burnt-out tower to search for bodies, while structural engineers work to make the building safe for firefighters to search. The search operation could take weeks, according to the Met commander Stuart Cundy.
- A ruptured gas main hampered efforts to quell the fire overnight. It was finally brought under control at 1.14am on Thursday.
- Theresa May visited the scene where she met members of the emergency services. She was criticised for failing to meet residents during the visit. Jeremy Corbyn also visited the scene.
- Nine firefighters were hurt in the rescue and there are concerns for their mental health. The fire commander Dany Cotton said: “I’m more concerned longer term about the mental impact on a lot of people who were here. People saw and heard things on a scale they have never seen before.”
- Labour is demanding a special Commons session to question a senior minister about what the government plans to do in the wake of the fire and ask why it failed to act on coroners’ concerns about two previous tower block fires. The Labour MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, said that what happened amounted to “corporate manslaughter”.
- There is growing frustration from the families of the missing about the lack of information about their loved ones. The names of at least 24 people have been circulated by friends and family. Police say they cannot give figures on the number of people missing.
- A total of 37 people are still being treated in hospital, with 17 in critical care. They are in six hospitals across London.
- The Queen has issued a message of condolence and paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters.
- A huge relief effort has swung into action, with charity workers and volunteers providing aid for those affected. Residents have voiced their anger at a lack of coordination from the council and other authorities. More than £1m to help displaced residents has been raised via online donations in just over 24 hours.
- Experts said the fire spread at unusual speed and raised concerns whether the cladding may have contributed to this. The tower, which was built in 1974, recently underwent a major refurbishment.
- It also emerged the cladding used in Grenfell Tower was behind a rapidly spreading blaze at a tower block in Melbourne in 2014. An eighth-floor fire raced up 13 floors to the roof of the 21-storey building in 11 minutes. The spread was “directly associated” with the external cladding, said the fire brigade.
- The Grenfell Action Group, a residents’ association, repeatedly warned about the risk of fire and claimed a major blaze was narrowly averted after a power surge in 2013. The group said its concerns were dismissed.
- Witnesses described screams of terror and people jumping out of flats in an attempt to reach safety. A baby was caught by a member of the public after being dropped from the ninth or 10th floor, a witness said.
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