14 June, 2017
A least 30 people were injured after a huge fire swept through a 27-storey tower block in west London in the early hours of Wednesday, emergency services said.
"A number" of people have been killed in a massive fire in a west London apartment block on Wednesday, London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton told reporters at the scene.
Footage on social media showed the building engulfed in fire, with flames stretching over a number of floors.
And Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London described the blaze as a "major incident".
Flames and smoke were still rising from the Grenfell Tower in the North Kensington area, more than four hours after a fire was reported at 1 am London time from the second to the top floor of the building.
George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV program Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live, "I'm 100 meters away and I'm absolutely covered in ash".
Eyewitnesses said they could see lights - thought to be mobile phones or torches - flashing at the top of the block of flats, which people say is "close to burning through".
Local resident, Joanna O'Connor, said she awoke to screams and sirens.
"It's the most terrifying thing I've ever seen".
Police, fire and ambulance crews raced to Grenfell Tower, part of the Lancaster West housing estate about a mile northwest of Kensington Palace, said the report.
"People have been bringing water, clothes, anything they've got to help, out to the cordon".
"I can not confirm the number at this time and as you will appreciate with a fire of this size, affecting such a large building it would be unhelpful of me to speculate further". She says firefighters are still working and she can't say how many people may have died.
The London Ambulance Service said it had sent "a number of resources" to the area including its hazardous area response team. I've never seen anything like this.
Up to 600 people may have been inside the building's 120 apartments at the time the blaze broke out. "They were telling people not to leave the building", he said.
Assistant Commissioner of Fire Safety Dan Daly said on Facebook that firefighters are trying extremely hard even in such difficult conditions by wearing the breathing apparatus.
"It is our conviction that a serious fire in a tower block or similar high density residential property is the most likely reason that those who wield power at the KCTMO will be found out and brought to justice!" a residents organization, the Grenfell Action Group, wrote in a blog post previous year.
