Grenfell death toll may not be known until next year

LONDON: It will be months before the final death toll from a London tower block blaze is known, British police said, as Prime Minister Theresa May revealed that 120 other highrise buildings also had exterior cladding that failed fire tests.

At least 80 people are dead, or missing and presumed dead, from the inferno that gutted the 24storey Grenfell Tower block in west London on June 14 as families and children slept, and that figure is expected to rise.

Detective Supt Fiona McCormack, the officer in charge of the police investigation, said on Wednesday that the final death toll would only be known after officers completed a painstaking search and recovery operation which would take until the end of the year to complete.

“We are many months from being able to provide a number that we believe accurately represents the total loss of life inside Grenfell Tower,” McCormack said.

The authorities have been under pressure to say exactly how many people lost their lives amid accusations from local residents that the true figure is being kept quiet.

Meanwhile, the government is to appoint a retired judge to lead a public inquiry into the devastating fire.

A spokesman for May’s office said retired court of appeals judge Martin MooreBick would be appointed to head the inquiry.

MooreBick spent more than 20 years as a judge and retired in December last year from his role as Lord Justice of Appeal.

The Times newspaper said members of May’s senior team had expressed initial misgivings about MooreBick after he ruled in favour of a London council in a dispute with a single mother of five children who had refused to be rehoused away from her home into a city north of London.

The ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court.