The Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Dany Cotton, has confirmed the sad news that there have been a number of fatalities due to the enormous fire in a London tower block during the night.
At least 50 people are also left in hospital with injuries from the blaze.
Meanwhile witnesses say “many people” jumped from up to the 16th floor of the building with fears that official fatalities will reach dozens.
From 1am onwards, some 200 firefighters and 40 fire trucks fought an enormous inferno in a 24-floor apartment tower block in West London.
“I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities,” Ms Cotton said.
“I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building and it would clearly be wrong for me to speculate further. Equally, the cause of this fire is not known at this stage.”
She said firefighters arrived within six minutes of receiving the first call and managed to rescue “large numbers of people over several floors”.
Ms Cotton said a structural engineer monitoring the stability of building ruled that it was deemed safe quite recently.
The building is still on fire this morning.