POLICE say 30 people are now known to have died in the Grenfell Tower fire, and that another 70 are missing, unaccounted for and presumed dead.
Scotland Yard say the fire was so intense and devastating that some victims may never be identified.
Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said they had now recovered 12 bodies, but the rest remain in the tower and, given the precarious state of the burnt-out building, the effort to remove them could take many weeks.
At least 24 people are being treated in hospital, 12 are in a critical condition.
Cundy said he expected the death toll to rise further. “I do believe that, sadly, the number will rise.
“The building itself is in a very hazardous state. It is going to take a period of time for our specialists, both from the police and from the London Fire Brigade, to fully search that building to make sure we locate and recover everybody who has sadly perished in the fire. We will be doing that as swiftly as we can.”
In face of heckling from residents, who believe the police are covering up the true extent of the deaths and want more information released, Cundy said he only wanted to tell people what he knew for certain.
“What is important for me is I will only say something that I know to be true. I know at least 30 people who have died and, sadly, I do believe those numbers … will increase.
“As soon as we can we will share that with the families and wider community,” he added.
Cundy said officers had accessed the flat where the fire had begun and there was nothing to suggest the fire had been started deliberately.
The first victim of the disaster was named as Mohammed Alhajali, a 23-year-old refugee. He came to the UK in 2014 and was studying civil engineering.
The second victim was named as 24-year-old artist Khadija Saye, who lived on the 20th floor.
Saye was last heard from at 3am on the night of the fire. “She was on Facebook saying she was unable to get out of the flat, that the smoke was so thick,” said friend Nicola Green.
“She was saying she just can’t get out and, ‘Please pray for me. There’s a fire in my council block. I can’t leave the flat. Please pray for me and my mum.”’ Reports in The Times suggested the cladding fitted to the outside of the building last year in an £8.6 million makeover is banned in a number of countries, with the polyethylene core believed to be an accelerant.
The hundreds of Reynobond aluminium panels believed to have been fitted to Grenfell Tower are understood to be the cheapest of the three options made by the firm.
A salesman for US-based Reynobond told The Times that this version, which has a polyethylene core and is known as PE, was banned in American buildings taller than 40ft for fire safety reasons.
“It’s because of the fire and smoke spread,” he said.
Reynobond’s fire-resistant panel sells for £24 per square metre – only £2 more expensive than the standard version. This means that for an estimated £5000 extra, the refurbishment could have used the fireproof version of the same cladding.
Scotland Yard’s homicide and major crime command have opened an investigation into the fire.
One local MP has called for “corporate manslaughter” arrests to be made.
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