Police detail Grenfell Tower fire recovery work

Some residents of the public housing building question the official death toll of 80

British police yesterday described the painstaking work of recovering remains from a burnt-out London high-rise, as they tried to reassure grieving families that everything possible is being done to identify and retrieve the dead.

Police say at least 80 people died in the June 14 fire at Grenfell Tower, but only 32 victims have formally been identified. Detectives say it will take months to identify all the victims, and the agonising wait has provoked anger and dismay from victims’ families.

Great delay

Four weeks after the blaze, some residents of the public housing tower question the official death toll, insisting the true number is higher than 80. Many also complain of agonising delays in getting information and assistance and in finding new places to live.

Sgt. Alistair Hutchins, a member of the Metropolitan Police’s disaster victim identification unit, said officers are carrying out a methodical search of the 24-storey tower block, working on their hands and knees with shovels and sieves to retrieve fragments of bone or teeth that can be used to identify victims.

Police and forensic anthropologists plan to sift through 15 metric tonnes (17 tonnes) of debris on each of the building’s floors. So far, police say they have made 87 “recoveries” of human remains — but they may not be from 87 different people.

Officers believe no one survived from 23 of the building’s 129 apartments.

In an interview released by police, Hutchins said he understood the frustration of victims’ families.

Slow to work

“All I can say is please be patient,” he said.

Police, the British government and the local authority that owns Grenfell Tower have all faced accusations that they were slow to grasp the magnitude of the tragedy and flatfooted in their responses.