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POLICE HAVE SAID that the process of recovering and identifying bodies from the burned out Grenfell Tower in London will be difficult and could take months.
Grenfell Tower went up in flames in the early hours of yesterday morning and spread quickly through almost all of the apartment block’s flats.
It was home to around 600 people – whole families still remain missing after the fire, which forced residents to flee through black smoke down the single stairwell, jump out of windows or even drop their children to safety.
Of the 17 victims found by emergency services so far, six were outside the tower, while it has not yet been deemed safe enough to recover the 11 bodies found inside.
“They are simply not recognisable because of the fire,” Fiona McCormack, from the Metropolitan Police’s identification team, said of the victims found inside Grenfell Tower.
As the fire continued to burn more than 36 hours after the blaze started, police commander Stuart Cundy said he did not expect to find any survivors.
“There is a risk we may not be able to identify everybody. The process will be very long. We’re talking weeks, we’re talking months,” he said.
Anger
Anger has been mounting in London over a devastating tower block blaze which killed at least 17 people, as police said some of the victims were left unrecognisable by the blaze.
Locals yelled questions at Mayor Sadiq Khan as he walked through the west London neighbourhood where the 24-storey Grenfell Tower went up in flames early yesterday morning.
“How many children died? What are you going to do about it?” a boy asked Khan, as the mayor tried to stop tensions rising further.
“You can see the anger for the community, justifiably so,” he said.
“Many people have been saying for some time now, their concerns about the housing we’re talking about now, but also other tower blocks around London.”
Cause of fire unknown
Questions are growing about how the flames spread so quickly, engulfing the tower’s 120 apartments in what fire chiefs said was an unprecedented blaze.
The focus of criticism centres on the cladding fitted to external walls on the 1970s concrete block as part of a €9.9 million refit completed last year.
According to the BBC, the cladding had a plastic core and was similar to that used by high-rise buildings in France, the United Arab Emirates and Australia, which had also suffered fires that spread.
Rydon, the firm responsible for the refit, said the project “met all required building regulations”.
Harley Facades, which fitted the panels, told the BBC: “At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding to the tower.”
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said they still did not the cause of the fire, where it started or why it spread in such a way.
‘Shaken to the core’
Earlier today, Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a public inquiry, an official review of action by public institutions.
Khan urged the government to publish an interim report as soon as this summer, saying “we cannot afford to wait years for those answers”.
In addition to debate over the cladding, questions have also been raised over why there was no sprinkler system in the Grenfell Tower which could have helped stop the fire spreading, or any central smoke alarm system that would have woken sleeping residents.
Official fire service advice for residents to stay in their homes and use towels to block out smoke, while awaiting help, has also come under scrutiny.
MPs have also called for quick progress with an official inquiry, with the Grenfell Tower residents’ local lawmaker Emma Dent Coad saying their “lives have been destroyed”.
“They’ve lost their loved ones and their communities have been shaken to the core. They need answers,” she said during a meeting at Westminster.
Fellow London MP Harriet Harman urged politicians to pursue the inquiry without delay, warning Fire Minister Nick Hurd if they didn’t act “you and all of us are culpable”.
Emergency fund
Grenfell Tower is part of a social housing estate in north Kensington, just streets away from some of the most expensive homes in the world in Notting Hill.
Residents have said their safety concerns were ignored, arguing their fears would have been addressed before the tragedy had they lived in a more upmarket area of London.
“If this happened somewhere near Knightsbridge this would have been resolved. It wouldn’t have been an issue,” said Nana Akuffo, 46, a chef volunteering at a local community centre.
David Collins, former chairman of the Grenfell Tower Residents’ Association, said the building’s management had failed to listen to residents’ calls for improvements on fire safety.
“This is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, diverse community that just didn’t get served by the people representing them,” Collins told AFP.
The government today set up an emergency fund to allow the local authorities to deal with the disaster.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been raised online for the victims, while local community centres were inundated by donations of clothes and food.
With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
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Cyclist probably didn’t realise the Luas drivers were working today.
Sure cyclists don’t need excuses for breaking light as it is.
There have been dozens of instances of cars breaking lights and hitting the Luas tram, this is the first time I’ve heard of a cyclist doing it.
Big claim there for the luas driver!
cyclists probably broke the lights and was of the opinion that he/she had right of way due to his/her green mode of transport and an over inflated sense of entitlement. I’m surprised more aren’t killed on the roads the way they carry on out there
Good on the Luas. I am sick of cyclists who constantly run red lights, pedestrian lights, and generally think they own the road. If you get hit by a Luas, it is your own fault.
As a part time cyclist and part time pedestrian, I am so sick of having to cross the road on a green man while watching for an ignorant cyclist coming along and not stopping. I seen a cyclist almost take a woman with a pram and another kid out of it recently.
It is a rampant problem right across this city.
I think people hate luas drivers more than cyclists right now Richard. That might be saying something.
Considering how many cars have been hit by the Luas it would appear drivers are breaking lights pretty regularly.
Way,way more car drivers than cyclists have broken red lights and crashed into the Luas over the years. I see cars breaking red lights every single day of the week.
Jimmyjoe how many close encounters with cyclist have gone unreported……dont kid yourself that this is the first incident.
Does it also annoy you when you are cycling towards a green light, and all the pedestrians waiting to cross wait till no cars are there but walk out in front of you without even looking?
“That 5 foot speeding bicycle came out of nowhere!”
or
“That 30 metre crawling tram came out of nowhere!”
Luas drivers will be after another few thousand one4all vouchers to make up for the stress of the job….
hahaha very ture but at least the luas driver saga will come to an end cyclists will never learn
SOME CYCLISTS will.
Luas driver traumatized. He will be suffering PTSD for the rest of his life, and will have to take early retirement.
Hope the cyclist is ok. Tram driver will probably look for year off with full pay due to the experience
Simple way not to get hit by a tram
DON’T CYCLE ON THE LUAS TRACKS!
‘Only trams this way’ means not cyclists
Gway out of that
How do you know he wasn’t crossing the tracks?
You can’t cycle on the tracks because your wheels will go into the tracks and then you’ll go flying. I presume the cyclist was crossing the tracks.
Almost got flattened by a cyclist this morning at a pedestrian crossing (my right of way) on the way to work.. very hard to have sympathy for cyclists when they blatantly ignore traffic lights and signals!
I almost got flattened by a car that decided he shouldn’t wait for the car in front to turn down a side street. He decided her should go around the car by driving in the cycle lane without looking.
I don’t blame all drivers for that idiot but if I used your logic I should.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Dublin but I pass through that junction at Earlsfort terrace beside St Stephen’s Green every morning on my way to work. It’s a very busy junction at rush hour and every single morning without fail several cyclists (not just one or two) speed through the pedestrian lights. Almost every morning I have to practically jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a cyclist. There are many cyclists who wait at the lights too but there almost as many who don’t. I know what I experience everyday and for the most part it’s not cars that I have to watch for breaking red lights, it’s cyclists!
I don’t know if you are familiar with Dublin but on Bolton street everyday there are over 10 cars parked in the cycle lane. Then there is a steady line of cars driving in the remainder of the cycle lane. Lots of people don’t care about the other road users.
The problem is unilaterally deciding that just due to mode of transport you can say anything one way or the other.
There are plenty of badly designed junctions that practically need a full time guard at them to stop dangerous and disruptive road users.
I wasn’t trying to be sarky by the way when I said I didn’t know if you were familiar with Dublin, just wasn’t sure if you were based in the city. My perception of cyclists is based on my experience with them and that experience has been that there are a considerable number of cyclists who break reds often. In relation to this incident, trams don’t just come out of no where in the way cars can, so my guess would be that the cyclist ignored or missed a traffic signal which resulted in the collision. I don’t wish injury on anybody and I hope the cyclist makes a full recovery but having observed a large number of cyclists knowingly break red lights, It doesn’t surprise me when incidents like this occurs and I hope it will encourage other cyclists to take more care that’s all!
Well once you base it on experience then it doesn’t mean you aren’t bunching a varied group together as bad. But your experience being very limited might just be an issue.
Try a cycle around Dublin and you would be amazed at attitudes towards cyclists. Pedestrians just walk out in front of you all the time along with walking in cycle lanes. Cars buzz cyclist by approaching fast and close. That isn’t once a day or journey but repeatedly. I drive, walk and cycle and cyclists are far from the danger being said and road deaths and accidents prove this.
My personal favorite of dangerous driver thing that doesn’t even register with drivers is peek a boo onto roads. Driver joining a road peeks their car out onto the road they are joining blocking the road or cycle lane for the cyclist. Now the cyclist has to judge if the driver has seen them and if the driver behind can see the car also. Now does the cyclist stop to let the car out hoping the driver behind will let the driver out? Does the cyclist indicate and pull around the car while looking behind them to see if the cars behind are too close or too fast?
This puts a cyclist at extreme risk for the convenience of a driver and there is not even a though about this by most drivers
I acknowledge that Dublin is not a well designed city for cyclists and also that many motorists do not take due care with cyclists but that doesn’t give cyclists a free pass to break reds.
And I didn’t say it did but it is also not true that cyclists are all the same and can be bunched together as a menace.
The bad road users is more of a problem than design.
I’m a cyclist and a driver in Sydney. I’ll admit cyclists are crazy at times. But so too are motorists. For us law abiding cyclists, motorists can be complete nuts. This morning I had a motorist trying to run me off as I legally tried to cross to the cycle lane.
Cyclists think they can cycle anywhe and always have a right of way.
True!, get away with murder, going through red lights etc!..
Drivers think they own the road because they are protected by over a ton of metal and doors, very brave.
All of a sudden he came out of nowhere and crashed into me and after all the tears and crying and emotional stress we went our separate ways said the cyclist!
Cyclists get away with murder on our roads in my opinion..
Yet drivers kill people on the road each year and don’t go to prison. Not so many cyclists kill people on the road. Who is exactly getting away with murder? Doesn’t need to be opinion
David how many people have been killed on the roads by cyclists and how many by motorists?
And its not always the motorist who is at fault.
Cause cyclists cause so many deaths on the road?
The Luas driver was probably lane jumping.
Everyone relax !! The seven weeks training for the 47k a year job probably included a bit of first aid training so I’m sure the Luas driver had the expertise to call someone who has a clue wat to do in such a situation
Did the overpaid Luas driver think he was a government representative???
Cyclists arent Jamie vardy. They can’t do what they want.
No sympathy probably has total disregards for the rules of the road they totally piss me off the way they behave.
Well if you are so rational about it your opinion earns extra points. Not like drivers speed, block yellow boxes, park on cycle lanes and double yellow lines, drive in cycle and bus lanes etc…
None of that should annoy anyone
Cyclists get away with murder on our roads!.
So you keep saying. But it is motorised vehilcles that keep killing people,not bikes. Or should I say, idiots driving motorised vehicles.
That escalated quickly.
I hope the cyclist sue the arse out of that Luas Driver so he gets fired for gross misconduct and start recruiting people who wants to work.
So it was the tram driver’s fault was it? Why, because you’ve been inconvenienced by their industrial action recently? Do you think he took it off the tracks and onto a cycle lane or something? If you’re dumb enough to play chicken with a tram you deserve whatever happens to you
Something seriously needs to be done about cyclists ignoring rules of the road. They are pretty much out of control at the moment. Hard to understand the mentality of them when it is them that will end up worst in an accident.
More consideration from both cyclists and motorists would help greatly
They certainly ignore the rules of the road when they’re flying along on the footpaths!
Ban all cyclists from the city! Force them to use the Lua…. Oh wait… Nah that won’t work.
Wow theyre taking this strike thing a bit far now arent they
Surprised the Luas is actually running, …. maybe the drivers will put this error down to being “underpaid” for the “experience” they possess..!!!!!
Hope it one of the clowns on this site calling for luas drivers to be sacked because of strike. Karma is a bitch
Cyclists vs Luas drivers…..GO!
Luas drivers getting revenge over pay deal!
Some pedestrian crossings have a bike symbol with the green/red man, so can a cyclist not use it too? Honest question guys.
I would wait for pedestrians to cross then go myself but only if there is a bike symbol on the lights. I can go with the cars but people can’t,
Took out a cyclist?! definitely an argument there for a pay rise!!!!
Luas drivers always breaking lights at connolly stn
have your say