Metropolitan Police has confirmed that “at least” 30 people have died in the fire which consumed Grenfell Tower in the early hours of Wednesday morning (June 14).
The fire broke out at a 27-storey residential tower block in North Kensington and continued to rage for several days despite as many as 240 firefighters working to extinguish it.
In a press conference, Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police, said: “Sadly, as I have said before we always knew the number of those that had died would increase and I am able to say at this point in time that at least 30 people have died as a result of this fire.do’ntn
“Sadly and tragically that includes one person who was taken to hospital and despite the very best medical care from the NHS has now sadly died.
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“12 of those victims have been taken to the mortuary and a number of these bodies sadly still remain here in Grenfell Tower.
“The latest update from the hospitals is that we still have 24 people who are being treated 12 of those are in critical care. We have specialist and dedicated family liaison officers supporting 36 families.
“At this point in time there are no fires within the building. Our specialist investigators and experts have examined what we believe is the original location where the fire started and based on what we know there is nothing to suggest at this time there is nothing to suggest this fire was started deliberately.
“As an absolute priority what we are all doing is as quickly and with as much dignity as we can, recovering those that are inside and sadly we do not expect there to be any survivors.”
Prior to this the confirmed death toll stood at 17, however the commander went on to say that he expects the number of 30 will increase.
“The very nature of this intense fire that occurred in Grenfell Tower, I do believe that number [of those dead] will increase,” he said.
“The building is in a very hazardous state. It’s going to take a period of time for us to fully circulate that building to recover everyone that has perished in that fire.
“We will do this as swiftly as we can.
“We will get to the answer of what has happened and why, that’s why the police is taking the lead on the investigation.
“As quick as we can we will recover people.
“As soon as we have a number that I am content is accurate, we will share it.”
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