London fire: 6 dead, at least 74 injured in Grenfell Tower blaze [VIDEO]

A major fire broke out on Wednesday, June 14, at Grenfell Tower, a residential high-rise building in London. The tower was built in 1974 by Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council.

London fire: Videos show residents asking for help; jumping out of the building

6:15 pm IST: According to India Today, one woman lost two of her six children while trying to escape the London Tower blaze.

6:03 pm IST: The Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund has just launched an emergency appeal to raise funds on behalf of residents of the Grenfell Tower. You can visit this site to make donations.

5:45 pm IST: The Lancaster community centre has received huge amount of donations since morning. "Unfortunately we cannot accept any more donations of clothes as we have no room," said one of the centre's workers.
Inside the centre, tables are heaped with baby food, nappies, toiletries and sandwiches. A separate room was crammed with clothing.
"The community has really come together. Local businesses are donating money and supplies," added the worker.

5:40 pm IST: Fire commissioner Cotton expects has said that the firefighters are expected to be at the scene for the next 24 hours.

5:05 pm IST: Number of people injured increses to 74.

5:01 pm IST: The spokesperson of 10 Downing Street has said that the Prime Minister of UK Theresa May is "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life in Grenfell Tower". The prime minister has called for a meeting of the civil contingencies secretariat later in the day.

4:50 pm IST: According to the latest reports from the London Ambulance Service, the number of people injured in the fire has increased to 64, including 20 who are in critical condition.

4:40 pm IST: According to the mirror, the Police said that the death toll is expected to increase during a "complex recovery operation" which will likely take a number of days to complete.

4:28 pm IST: According to the BBC, the St Mary's Hospital in Paddington says it is treating 16 patients, of whom three  are critical.

3:45 pm IST: "At least six dead in London tower block fire," said the police. 

3:40 pm IST: The London Fire Brigade has said that the tower is not in any danger of collapsing

3:20 pm IST: According to The Guardian, Notting Dale ward councillor Judith Blakeman, who lives across the road from the block have said that the Grenfell Tower housed as many as 400 to 600 people.

3:15 pm IST: More than 250 firefighters worked tirelessly to douse the massive fire.

2:55 pm IST: While the St Clement's church has also volunteered to help the victims, a chef who feeds Stella McCartney's staff has also reached out and has offered to cook lunch for the people at the church on Wednesday. 

"It's London doing what London does best," he said. "We saw it after the terrible events in London Bridge and we see it again today. When push comes to shove London comes together, it stands together," reverend Mark O'Donoghue, area dean of Kensington was quoted by The Guardian.

2:45 pm IST: Samira Lamrani, another witness said that a woman in order to save her baby dropped her from the ninth or tenth floor to people waiting downstairs. 

2:30 pm IST: A team of British Red Cross volunteers are helping the residents at a nearby rest centre.

Jon Pewtner, Senior Emergency Response Officer for the British Red Cross was quoted by The guardian, "The Atmosphere here is tense – people are worried about loved ones and many are coming to the realisation that they have lost their homes."

"The community is rallying round, with residents collecting food, drink and clothes, and everyone is asking each other if they can help, or if they need food. There is a good, strong community spirit." Pewtner added.

2:15 pm IST: Fire commissioner Dany Cotton has said that structural engineer has monitored the buiilding. It is safe for fire crews to enter. According to The Guardian, Cotton has said that the fire crews are making "steady progress" up the building and have reached the 21st floor.

2: 10 pm IST: A missing persons enquiry centre has been set up on Freston Road. 

1:53 pm IST: Meanwhile mayor Sadiq Khan has said that questions need to be answered about the fire advice given to residents."Thankfully residents didn't stay in their flats and fled to safety," said Khan.

1:51 pm IST: A man identified as Methrob, who lived on the 17th floor, told LBC Radio that the building is not equipped with fire alarm. "I heard the fire trucks and so I was alerted that something was going on. There was no fire alarm in the building, we don't have an integrated fire alarm system," said Methrob.

1:45 pm IST: "It escalated really quickly. Around midnight the fire was only around the third floor and then, before you know it, the whole 23 (sic) floors of the building were all on fire and there were people screaming for help and throwing kids out," another witness Samira was quoted by The Guardian.

"I think everyone felt really helpless because no-one could get to them. Everyone was really scared and they didn't know what to do and it was really sad to see," added Samira whose family escaped the fire safely.

1:40 pm IST: A 23-year-old, Line Sterring who lives in the in Testerton Walk, immediately adjacent to Grenfell Tower recounts the horror and chaos that broke out after the fire.

"We saw people in the second top window of the tower. They were four people screaming and shouting and then the window went completely dark from the smoke and that part of the building was covered in flames," said Sterring told The Guardian.

1:24 pm IST: The Guardian has reported that Rydon, the company which had carried out refurbishments of the Grenfell tower have removed all references of their work from their official website in fear of being held responsible for the massive fire. However, there is a cached  summary of the refurbishment online.

Here's a screenshot of the summary:

1:20 pm IST: Local councillor Robert Atkinson was quoted by CNN as saying that 125 families lived in the building and that it would be a "major responsibility" for the government to help house them.
"They've lost everything that they've got, standing there homeless and penniless," he said.

1:12 pm IST: Commander Stuart Candy from the Metropolitan police said that while the cause of the blaze has not been confirmed , the fire has killed  a number of people.

1:01 pm IST: Latest reports have said that as many as 50 have been injured.

12:50 pm IST:  The Metropolitan Police has set up a emergency hotline number - 0800 0961 233

12:40 pm IST: London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton said, "I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities."

12:35 pm IST: Eyewitness Zeinab Jafari,who lives in nearby Treadgold Street said that mother-in-law and her eldest daughter escaped, there is no news of her 86- year-old father-in-law. "They shouted at my father-in-law. But he takes lots of medication." said Jafari. 

12:31 pm IST:  Paul Littlejohn lives opposite Grenfell Tower, told BBC, "I woke up about half past one this morning to look across the road and see the big Grenfell Tower, in a towering inferno, blaze, just fire coming out of every window, windows smashing and exploding.

"Things falling out, people screaming, people jumping out on fire, chucking ropes down what they'd made out of bedsheets, to try and climb out. Just complete nightmare, absolute nightmare." added Littlejohn.

12:25 pm IST: London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton said that the fire was the worst she had seen in 29 years of being a firefighter.

12:15 pm IST: Afshan Javed, a local resident and mother of two told CNN that a children's nursery was located on the ground floor of the building.

"There are babies and young children that go there," she said. "I'm scared to death even thinking about if my daughter had been in there. I still feel so bad for the people who are inside," said Javed.

12:01pm IST: According to Claire Heald of BBC, the top 10 storeys of the tower are still alight. "Dirty yellow smoke is rising up into the otherwise clear sky above west London," said Heald

"Some are heading to work. Some are still dressed in their pyjamas, with coats over the top. The helicopter is overhead and firefighters are heading to and from the burning building," added Herald.

12:00 pm IST: Meanwhile the Thames Water have said that west London residents will experience low pressure as a result of the fire.

11:55 am IST: London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly told BBC, "Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire."

11:48 am IST: Firefighters are still trying to put out the fire.

11:40 am IST: According to The Guardian, a major fire was narrowly averted after a power surge in the Grenfell Tower in 2013. 

11:30 am IST: While rescue operations are still on, here's what a few survivors have said. 

"I'm lucky to be alive - and lots of people have not got out of the building ... I've lost everything I own. I'm standing here in everything I've got," a survivor told Guardian.

"My nephew was in there, my cousin was in there... I saw people jumping out the window, it's crazy," said another resident Ayyub Asif .

"I grabbed my little girl and ran down the stairs," he said. "Half of the building was ablaze by the time we got out. And it was just spreading like wildfire."

Michael Paramasivan, who lives on the seventh floor told CNN, "I grabbed my little girl and ran down the stairs," he said. "Half of the building was ablaze by the time we got out. And it was just spreading like wildfire," Paramasivan added.

"The advice (was) to stay in the house. If we stayed in the house we would have been dead," recounted Paramasivan while lamenting that everything is gone.

11:05 am IST: While the Grenfell Tower has been cordoned off, 30 adjacent flats have been evacuated by the police.

10:55 am IST: Ambulance Service has confirmed that 30 patients have been taken to five hospitals.

10:50 am IST: A few of the residents of the tower are at a makeshift centre in the Rugby Portobello, a community centre. People are delivering water and blankets to them. A few of them have even offered their houses to those in need.

10:19 am IST: BBC reports that there are signs people are missing after the fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate. Reporter Simon Lederman on the scene reports he understands "a significant number of people were unaccounted for."

10:10 am IST: According to latest reports the fire started on the fourth floor.

10:03 am IST: London fire: Check out before and after photos of 27-storey Grenfell Tower, and videos of horrifying incident

10:00 am IST: Jody Martin, a resident of a nearby building told BBC that many people are feared dead.

9:58 am IST: The latest footage shared online shows frantic scenes outside the burnt-out building. An hour after emergency crews arrived at the spot, there's still chaos. "People in night clothes, no shoes, crying, looking for family," the Guardian cited eyewitnesses as saying.

9:55 am IST: Consultants have been brought in to discuss whether the building will stand or not.

9:50 am IST: "The building is pretty much burned out. It is gutted ... I have never seen anything like it, the smell, the burning, the heat is extraordinary," an eyewitness was quoted by the Telegraph

9:45 am IST: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared the fire a "major incident".

9:41 am IST: Residents from the Barandon Walk and Tesserton Walk buildings close to the tower on fire are currently being evacuated.

9:40 am IST: Dozens of firefighters and hundreds of crew and around 40 ambulances are present at the scene. However, falling debris from the building makes rescue work difficult.

9:35 am IST: The police has started evacuating the residents of the nearby buildings.

9:32 am IST:  People seen jumping off the top floor and waving from windows. Eyewitness account - "He was screaming help, help, help but no one helped. He dashed a mattress out of the window. He was literally on fire and jumped." A woman with a child was also seen seeking help from the windows.

9:30 am IST: The roads leading to the Grenfell towers have been closed to traffic.

9:00 am IST:  The people trapped inside have been screaming for help.

8:30 am IST: People 100 meters away are getting covered in ash.

8:00 am IST: There have been several reports of injuries. London Metropolitan Police said evacuation is underway.

7:45 am IST: "It's so heartbreaking, I've seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can't get out." George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV programme, was quoted as saying by the BBC.

7:30 am IST: More than 40 fire engines are trying to control the blaze. Several people are feared to be trapped inside.

7:21 am IST: The London fire brigade said that the fire extends from the second floor to the topmost floor of the 27-storey building.

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