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An unknown number of people have been killed in a huge fire which engulfed a 27-story block of flats in central London on Wednesday, London Fire Brigade said.
At least 30 people were taken to hospital after being injured in the fire which engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the Grenfell Tower, where several hundred people lived.
“At this time I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities, I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building,” Dany Cotton, Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade told reporters.
Residents living in the 120 apartments were evacuated after the fire broke out on the second floor of the building at around one in the morning.
Some were reported to be trapped on the roof of the building as 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters tackled the blaze.
Specialist medical teams were also called into to deal with fire related injuries.
As debris fell from the burning building down onto the streets below, police erected a wide cordon around the tower on Latimer Road which built in 1974.
One resident told local media that he had not heard a fire alarm but escaped after shouting woke him up on the seventh floor.