TOWER HEROES GAGGED
Firefighters told not to talk about horrors Fears death toll will run into triple figures
HEROIC firefighters have been gagged from talking about the full horror at Grenfell Toweramid fears the true death toll will top 100.
The order from bosses was revealed yesterday by several Fire Brigade sources who grimly insisted the official figure of 80 dead will soar.
They spoke as authorities were accused of masking the total of those who perished in the inferno.
One firefighter, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday Mirror: “We’ve been told by our management don’t speak, ideally. The coroner has said it could obstruct the investigation. I don’t know how it can – what’s happened has happened, but that’s what we’re being told.”
A union rep for the Fire Brigades Union said: “We know the death toll will be higher than the official figure – and we’re not talking about one or two higher. There’s a strong possibility we are talking about three figures.”
But the authorities say they can only release confirmed details and that it will take months to establish exactly how many people perished in the June 14 fire at North Kensington, West London.
Officials do not want to cause further upset by releasing figures until they are certain. The lack of clarity over the number of bodies still inside Grenfell has caused great distress among locals. And David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said survivors and lovedones of the missing needed better information.
He said: “I am very concerned the Government and the Metropolitan Police have not allayed fears in relation to the numbers.
ANXIETY
“Firefighters confirm larger numbers than 80. Survivors are also suggesting numbers well in excess of 100.
“And yet 17 days after the fire we have no list of survivors, the police have said we will have to wait until the end of the year for numbers. It’s causing huge anxiety for people who want closure as they wait for news of their loved-ones and it feeds deep mistrust amongst the victims and survivors themselves.
“Trust is at rock bottom and the community need reassuring that the police, local authority and central government are doing all they can to at least come up with an estimation of how many people were in Grenfell Tower and how many survived.”
A police spokesman said the search and rescue operation to find those who died was still ongoing and would take “a considerable period of time”.
He said: “The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is unable to say with certainty the final number of people who died. The MPS will provide details when we know them to be accurate. We have
also stated that we fear the number who have died may rise as we better understand if there was anyone in Grenfell Tower that we have not yet been told about.
“We continue to support the families of those missing and are working tirelessly to provide answers. The complexity of this work should not be underestimated. Names of the deceased will only be published once formal identification has taken place in agreement with the coroner and with family agreement.”
So far, police say they have spoken to at least one resident from 106 of the 129 flats in the building.
But there are still 23 flats where they “presume no one survived”. Their task is more difficult because of inaccuracies in the list of tenants provided by the Tenant Management Organisation. And it would not have included visitors, many children or anyone illegally subletting. A London Fire Brigade spokeswoman said they were unable to comment due to the ongoing police investigation.
The Tory leader and deputy leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council have both resigned and London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for independent commissioners to run the borough.
We’ve been told not to speak, that we could obstruct the inquiry... FIREFIGHTER REVEALING ORDER TO INFERNO CREW