58 thought to have died – and total could still rise
APPEARANCES matter in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – the UK’s richest council with an average home value of £1.4 million.
The council’s planning application for refurbishments to Grenfell Tower is littered with references to how it would look to the surrounding rich residents.
So the council paid £8.4m on refurbishments. But they did not spend £200,000 on fire sprinkler systems for every floor or £5000 extra for fire retardant panels. In fact, they wrapped Grenfell in inferior plastic and told residents “stay put, don’t leave in the event of a fire”.
Whole families, children and the immobile elderly burned to AT least 58 people are now missing and presumed dead in the Grenfell Tower disaster.
This latest figure includes the 30 already confirmed to have died in the devastating London high-rise inferno.
Police chiefs warned that number “may increase” in the coming weeks as around 70 people in total have been reported missing.
Meanwhile, Theresa May yesterday buckled to mounting criticism over her handling of the Grenfell Tower disaster by meeting those caught up in the tragedy.
The Prime Minister spoke to victims, volunteers and community leaders at Downing Street after failing to meet with them in the immediate wake of the blaze.
Speaking last night, Mrs May admitted mistakes had been made. She said: “The response of the emergency services, NHS and the community has been heroic.
“But, frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough.”
Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said: “That number (of presumed dead) may change. I really hope it won’t, but it may increase.
“Our focus has been on those that we know were in Grenfell Tower. However, there may be other people who were in there on the night. That is also an absolute priority for the investigation – to establish who they may be.”
He added: “As soon as we can, we will locate and recover loved ones.” death. Those who survived only did so by ignoring official advice.
The council ignored the advice from residents and world-class fire safety experts alike. As far back as 2000, Gordon Cooke – a leading fire safety consultant – warned that using the type of cladding seen on Grenfell “is difficult to justify when considering life safety” and “can contribute to the severity and speed of fire development”.
For four years, the UK Government sat on a damning report about 4000 older tower blocks being at risk of fire.
Shortly after the fire, the Scottish Government wrote to every social housing provider asking them to check their stock for fire risks.
What happened at Grenfell demands a criminal probe and
More than £3m has been raised for the victims of the fire, while Downing Street has pledged a £5m fund for emergency supplies, food and clothing for victims.
Meanwhile, tearful friends of a woman who lived in Grenfell Tower gathered near the site of the burnt-out building.
A few dozen people, some wearing T-shirts featuring a picture of Zainab Dean and carrying flowers, walked along Bramley Road in west London singing songs including Amazing Grace.
When they were in sight of the remains of the tower, some pointed and shouted “we shall overcome” before breaking into song again.
After walking towards a spot nearby where candles had been lit and messages left on heartshaped paper, one woman described Ms Dean as a “beautiful, loving lady”.
Reports previously said Ms Dean’s two-year-old son, Jeremiah, was also with her in the flat and was also listed as missing.
Elsewhere, a woman trapped with her partner in the fire told her mum in a final phone call she was “about to go to heaven”.
Italian couple Gloria Trevisan and boyfriend Marco Gottardi were among the confirmed victims of the blaze disaster.
Their heartbreaking final words were yesterday revealed by family back in their native Italy.
The family of Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali, the first Grenfell Tower victim to be identified, have described him as a “a very amazing and kind person”. charges against the culpable. When “red tape” is cut it is the poor who are then at the mercy of lax fire safety. Yet millions were spent on a facade that kills in order to inflate property prices of the rich.
Will the council guarantee to rebuild proper homes on the site for the surviving families? Or will this be an excuse for more social cleansing and gentrification?