DEATH TOLL 79 BUT ONLY FIVE GIVEN ID
TEARFUL firefighters led the nation in a minute’s silence yesterday as the death toll from the Grenfell Tower disaster rose to 79.
Just five of those lost have been identified since the fire tore through the block last Wednesday and police warned some are so badly burned they may never be named.
Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, 24, Abufars Ibrahim, 39, and Anthony Disson, 65, all died in the 24-storey London block inferno.
Those named as dead also include 23-year-old Mohammad Alhajali and Khadija Khalloufi, who was 52.
But a family of five who had been reported missing were unhurt.
The Khudair family, which is made up of two parents and their three grown-up daughters, confirmed on Facebook that they had survived.
Yesterday workers across the country paused at 11am to honour the victims.
There were emotional scenes in north Kensington when the clock struck 11am as firefighters wept alongside residents.
The silence was also observed in offices and government buildings across the country.
Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy warned families and friends anyone still missing was presumed dead.
He said: “Over the last 48 hours there has been a huge amount of effort to understand as confidently as we possibly can just how many people are missing who were in Grenfell Tower that night.
“Sadly if they are missing then I do presume they are dead. It is extremely complex and when we give out numbers I want to be as accurate as we possibly can be, I do not want to cause distress to communities.
“Every one of those that have been confirmed or are presumed dead we have family liaison officers supporting those families. This is a truly awful fire, for many families they have lost more than one family member.
“This is an incredibly distressing time. What is important to all of us is to find everyone.”
Mr Cundy added he entered the building himself on Saturday and travelled to the top floor. He said: “Nothing prepared me for what I was going to see, it is hard to describe my feelings. “It is fair to say it is incredibly emotional working in there, we will do everything we can to locate and recover everybody who was in there. “What is important to us is that we find everyone who was inside that building and return them to their loved ones.” The Government yesterday demanded that every council in England makes an urgent list of buildings which have the same cladding suspected of speeding up the blaze at Grenfell Tower.
They wanted two lists, one with all buildings with aluminium composite and all over 18 metres high, by the end of yesterday to ensure people’s safety.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The Department for Communities and Local Government is now talking to all local authorities about issues such as type of cladding that is used across public buildings and so on.”