Death toll in London tower block fire expected to rise above 58
Search dogs have been used to locate the missing in the wreckage.
Last updated 19th Jun 2017
The death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire is expected to rise further after police said they believe the number missing and unaccounted for has gone above 58.
Footage from inside the gutted 24-storey building has been released, showing the extent of the damage caused by the blaze.
Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said the conditions in the tower "verge on indescribable'', and warned of the potential "terrible reality'' that some people may never be identified.
Flames tore up the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, leaving people trapped on upper floors, including children, some holding babies from windows and others jumping from their flats.
A minute's silence will be held at 11am across all Government buildings to remember the people who lost their lives and all those affected by the fire.
Specialist urban search and rescue teams were brought in to make the 24-storey tower block safe in north Kensington to allow firefighters and the police to carry out investigations, following the devastating blaze that started in the early hours of Wednesday.
As anger continued in the wake of the disaster, described by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a "preventable accident'', the Government announced those left homeless will be given at least £5,500 from an emergency fund.
Search dogs have also been used to help locate the missing in the wreckage.
Residents will be given£500 in cash followed by a bank payment for the rest from Monday and the money will come from the #5 million fund announced by Theresa May on Friday.
While they welcomed the funding, a group of residents who met Mrs May in Downing Street at the weekend said they had not been consulted before the latest announcement, adding that it continued a "tendency to sideline residents' views''
On Friday the Queen and Prince William have visited a relief centre helping victims of the west London blaze.
Theresa May also visited those injured in hospital after being heavily criticised for failing to meet residents on Thursday.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters at the scene: "This is an unprecedented incident. In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale.''
Pictures from the scene showed flames engulfing the block and a plume of smoke visible across the capital, while others showed residents looking out of windows in the block.
The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Borough Nick Paget-Brown said "several hundred'' people would have been in the block when the fire broke out.
A casualty bureau has been set up for anyone concerned about friends and family on 0800 0961 233.
"I watched another woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down" - Witness Jody Martin
Jody Martin said he got to the scene just as the first fire engine was arriving at Grenfell Tower, in Latimer Road.
"I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window... hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down and they were saying 'We can't leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors','' he said.
Fire crews from north Kensington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Paddington and surrounding stations were at the scene with the fire burning from the second to the top floor.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage, London Fire Brigade said.
"I'm getting covered in ash, that's how bad it is. I'm 100 metres away and I'm absolutely covered in ash." - TV presenter George Clarke
Fabio Bebber wrote on Twitter: "More screams for help as the fire spreads to another side of the building.
"We can see how quick the fire spreads via the external panels. It's unbearable hearing someone screaming for their lives at #grenfelltower.''
George Clarke, who presents the Channel 4 TV show Amazing Spaces, told a radio station: "I was in bed and heard 'beep, beep, beep' and thought, 'I'll get up and run downstairs as quickly as I could'.
"I thought it might be a car alarm outside and saw the glow through the windows.
"I'm getting covered in ash, that's how bad it is. I'm 100 metres away and I'm absolutely covered in ash."
"It's so heartbreaking, I've seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can't get out.
"The guys are doing an incredible job to try and get people out that building, but it's truly awful.''
The tower block was recently refurbished at a cost of £8.7 million, with work completed in May 2016.
The exterior of the 1970s-built tower was "modernised'' with cladding and replacement windows, while additional homes were added using vacant space in the building, according to Rydon Construction.