Deadly London tower fire kills six, injures several others

LONDON, United Kingdom (Kurdistan24) – A deadly fire at a 24-story apartment tower in London early Wednesday killed at least six people and injured dozens more, police said.

Flames erupted from the Grenfell Tower in North Kensington where over 200 firefighters arrived on scene to battle the inferno.

The London Fire Brigade received initial calls about the blaze at 12:54 a.m. local time.

“This is an unprecedented incident,” Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters.

“In my 29 years of being a firefighter I have never, ever seen anything of this scale,” he added.

Police commander Stuart Cundy confirmed there were at least six casualties, with several others injured.

Cundy added the figure was likely to rise “during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days.”

Some locals feared the fire was terror-related, as the disaster occurred ten days after an attack at London’s Borough Market, but authorities discounted the possibility.

Witnesses and survivors said people in the apartments desperately banged on windows and screamed for help, with some even throwing their children from higher floors down to safety.

Residents claimed they had warned of a potential fire threat in the building, although there was no immediate explanation for the cause.

“I consider this mass murder,” one resident told British media, adding residents had complained for years to the London City Council about the building's safety.

In a statement after the incident, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said questions needed to be answered regarding tower safety in the city.

“There will be a great many questions over the coming days as to the cause of this tragedy, and I want to reassure Londoners that we will get all the answers,” he affirmed.

Editing by G.H. Renaud