Breaking News! Dozens feared dead as West London Tower gutted by fire (PHOTOS)
A massive blaze has engulfed a block of flats in west London with witnesses reporting people being trapped in their homes.
More than 200 firefighters were sent to tackle the fire at the 27-storey Grenfell Tower which was reported just after 1.15am on Wednesday.
London Ambulance Service said that 30 people have been taken to five hospitals across the city, but that number is expected to rise.
Police said a ‘number of people are being treated for a range of injuries’, including two for smoke inhalation, as pictures from the scene in north Kensington showed flames engulfing the block and the plume of smoke visible across the capital.
Kensington and Chelsea Council leader Nick Paget-Brown described the blaze as a ‘very, very severe fire’.
He told Sky News: ‘Clearly it’s an absolutely devastating fire. Several hundred would have been in there. It’s a question of establishing how many people were in there at the time of the fire.
‘I’m really not in any position to answer any questions about the structure.
‘Clearly there’s a lot more work to do to evacuate the building and to establish how safe it is.’
Actor and writer Tim Downie, who lives around 600 metres from the scene in Latimer Road, told the Press Association he feared the block could collapse.
He said: ‘It’s horrendous. The whole building is engulfed in flames. It’s gone. It’s just a matter of time before this building collapses.
‘It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I just hope they have got everyone out.
‘The first I knew was the noise of sirens, helicopters and shouting. I saw it engulfed in flames.
‘People have been bringing water, clothes, anything they’ve got to help, out to the cordon.
‘I have seen people coming out in their bedclothes – it’s just very distressing.’
Roads and tube lines affected by west London tower fire
Jody Martin said he got to the scene just as the first fire engine was arriving at Grenfell Tower, in Latimer Road.
He told the BBC: ‘I grabbed an axe from the fire truck, it looked like there was a bit of confusion about what to do.
‘I ran around the building looking for a fire escape and couldn’t see any noticeable fire escapes around the building. A lot of debris falling down.
‘I eventually gained entry onto the second floor, and once I got to the corridor I realised there was so much smoke there.’
He added that given the thickness of the smoke, he would be surprised if anyone could have left the building without assistance.
Burglars grab screaming woman seconds after she put children to bed
‘I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window… hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down and they were saying ‘We can’t leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors’,’ he said.
Fire crews from north Kensington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Paddington and surrounding stations were at the scene with the fire burning from the second to the top floor.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage, London Fire Brigade said.
Fabio Bebber wrote on Twitter: ‘More screams for help as the fire spreads to another side of the building.
Culled from Metro News UK
