By Griff Witte and Karla Adam
A fire tore through a 24-story apartment building on June 14 in west London, shortly before 1 a.m. The London Fire Commissioner said “a number” of people have been confirmed dead.
London — At least six people (click here) were killed, more than 70 injured and many others missing on Wednesday as a fire ripped through a high-rise apartment building in west London where residents had long warned of the potential risk of a catastrophic blaze.
Witnesses reported people jumping from parts of the 24-story building after being trapped by the advancing flames. A thick plume of smoke could be seen for miles around.
Children banged on closed windows as they were enveloped by the dark smoke. A woman dropped her baby from at least a dozen stories up, desperately hoping someone would catch the infant in the street below.
Hundreds of other residents, many of whom were asleep when the blaze broke out shortly before 1 a.m., were forced to flee down dark and smoky stairwells. Grenfell Tower, which is publicly subsidized housing that prioritizes low-income and disabled residents of one of London’s poshest neighborhoods, was engulfed within minutes, witnesses said....
The verbal witnessing of this journalist is incredible. He saw people fade from the windows and most probably die. It is believed children died in the fire. There are citizens of London noticing people missing as the day wears on. There are school children missing their playmates. The school children are searching for their friends. This is an unmatched tragedy for London. There is a growing awareness of missing people and concern for their whereabouts.
Below Ana Ospina is concerned for her friend, Jessie.
Ana Ospina tweeted this image of her 13-year-old niece Jessie who is missing after the Grenfell Tower fire.
The London Fire Brigade (click here) has confirmed that there have been fatalities in the Grenfell Tower fire, which consumed the block in west London in the early hours of the morning local time.
People have been desperately searching for their loved ones who live in the building as people appeared to be trapped inside, the Telegraph reports.
The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Borough Nick Paget-Brown said "several hundred" people would have been in the block when the fire broke out.Children are believed to be among those missing, as school students search for their friends....
The firefighters became exhausted and the fire won it's status of inferno. Firefighting is a two edged sword; the enemy that is the fire and the victims of it. A fire such as this has to be as emotionally devastating as well as physically. To realize fighting the blaze is not saving lives is a defeat alone. Fighting the fire from the lower floors meant the rising smoke would simply cause more victims. It seems as though they were on a battle without end and the hopelessness of the circumstances set in.
