LONDON — A deadly nighttime fire raced through a 24-story apartment tower in London early Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, authorities say. Some desperate residents threw their children from high windows, hoping someone on the ground would catch them.
Police commander Stuart Cundy says there were six confirmed fatalities, adding that the figure was likely to rise “during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days.”
People in the apartments cornered by the quickly advancing flames and thick smoke banged on windows and screamed for help to those watching down below, witnesses and survivors say.
Flames from the inferno lit up the night and smoke spewed from the windows of the Grenfell Tower in North Kensington where more than 200 firefighters battled the blaze and went into the building with breathing apparatus. A plume of black smoke stretched for miles across the pale sky after dawn, revealing the blackened, flame-licked wreckage of the building.
There was no immediate word on the cause, but angry residents say they had repeatedly warned about a potential fire threat. One resident says the fire alarm did not go off.
In this photo taken from video, smoke rises from a high-rise apartment building on fire in London, Wednesday, June 14, 2017. (Sky News via AP)
— AP
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
