INSIDE HELL
Shock pictures show utter devastation of inferno flats as death toll set to rise
THESE are the hellish scenes that show how the Grenfell Tower blaze ravaged everything in its wake as it tore through the high-rise.
Harrowing videos and photos showing the wreckage of what were once family homes were released by police for the first time last night.
Among the blackened ruins are barely recognisable household items – relics of everyday life that were destroyed in minutes.
The images, captured by a specialist police recovery team working closely with the London Ambulance Service and the London Fire Brigade, were released as the death toll was expected to rise from 58 today. Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said the pictures showed the challenge his staff are facing as they investigate last Wednesday’s horrific blaze in Kensington, West London, and search for the victims.
Mr Cundy said: “Whilst our teams have been from the bottom to the top of the tower, we must now carry out a full forensic and systematic search. The conditions due to the fire damage verge on indescribable, which is why this will be such a lengthy operation taking weeks to complete.
“We must also prepare for the terrible reality that some people may not be identified due to the intensity of the fire.
“Family liaison officers are supporting families, and that includes those people we know to be dead, some of those who are critically ill and, sadly, those people who we have been told were in Grenfell Tower that night who we have been unable to trace.”
Mr Cundy said the probe so far had led police to believe the “number of
We must prepare for the terrible reality that some people may not be identified STUART CUNDY MET POLICE COMMANDER LAST NIGHT
people missing but as yet unaccounted for” would be higher.
The Met will give the latest number of those dead and missing today.
Mr Cundy added: “I must consider the fact that there may be others in the building who, for whatever reason, have not been reported to us.
“There is also a real possibility that there may be people in the building that no one knows are missing.
“I want to hear from anyone who believes that they know someone who may have been living, staying or visiting but has not yet been reported missing.
“We are not interested in your reasons for not telling us sooner, we just want to understand who may still be inside the building.”
The photos issued last night were taken inside flats where all residents were accounted for.
A washing machine, cooker and exercise bike can be seen among the wreckage in one of the short videos, which shows how the heat and flames reduced much of the flat to ashes.
The fire stripped paint from metallic objects and left others blackened, with pipework buckled and exposed.
A charred sink unit is collapsed on the floor. Another shows a bathroom, debris from the ceiling filling a sink.