LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) – Friends and relatives were searching for loved ones still missing as smoke was wafting out of the blackened shell of the Grenfell Tower in London on Thursday (June 15) where specialist firefighters and dog search teams faced hazardous conditions scouring the wreck, with external cladding still falling from the building.
Fire, that killed at least 17 people, engulfed the social housing block, where as many as 600 people lived in more than 120 apartments, in the early hours of Wednesday (June 14), turning it into a flaming torch in minutes.
An emotional Natasha Green was holding a poster of missing 12-year-old Jessica and said people had lost their lives because corners had been cut and because of cheap decoration on the building’s walls.
Labour Councilor representing Notting Dale area, Beinazir Lasharie, who knew most of the people in the building, said it was the flammable material used on the outside of the building that was burning.
An investigation into the cause of the blaze, the worst in the British capital in a generation, was underway.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday promised a public inquiry into the fire as the government faced questions about how such a devastating blaze could have occurred.
