58 missing, presumed dead in London fire
Posted Jun 17, 2017 11:41:22 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
London police say 58 people who were in Grenfell Tower are still missing and assumed to be dead.
Police Commander Stuart Cundy said Saturday that this number, which was based on reports from the public, may rise. He says it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify all the dead in the public housing block that was devastated by a fire early Wednesday.
He said there may have been people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the death toll.
He says the search for remains had been paused because of safety concerns but has resumed. Emergency workers have reached the top of the 24-story tower.
Cundy promised an exhausting investigation into the tragedy. He says “my heart goes out to those affected.”
Meanwhile, London’s fire department says that the reason for the subway closure near the high-rise fire disaster is because of a “short-term risk of some debris falling onto the tracks.”
Earlier, a sign at a Tube station said that the service suspension was because of the “safety” of nearby Grenfell Tower, suggesting structural concerns. A new sign was put up, removing that detail.
A fire department spokesman said crews are working to secure the debris so that two subway lines could be reopened as soon as possible.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with survivors of the London high-rise fire at her Downing Street office.
The announcement by a spokesman comes a day after May was heckled during a visit to the west London neighbourhood where Wednesday’s inferno took place. There has been growing public anger at the government’s initial response to the disaster’s aftermath and reports that external paneling put up during a recent renovation contributed to the flames’ rapid spread.
May is chairing a government task force on the fire and a spokesman says that she will meet afterward with “a group of residents, victims, volunteers and community leaders” at No. 10 Downing Street.
