Dan Kitwood/Getty Images(LONDON) — The death toll from a fire that engulfed a residential high-rise building in London this week has climbed to 30 as rescue workers continue to search for survivors, police said, adding that the blaze did not appear to have been started deliberately.
The flames have now been extinguished but the number of dead is expected to rise, Stuart Cundy, commander of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, told reporters at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
In addition to those killed, the blaze injured at least 74 people. As of Thursday afternoon, 24 remain hospitalized, with 12 in critical condition, he said.
The Metropolitan Police Service, which is leading the ongoing investigation, believes it has identified the origin of the fire, which does not appear to have been intentional, Cundy said. The exact cause of the fire is still unknown.
Investigators believe the fire started at around 1 a.m. local time Wednesday on the fourth floor of the 24-story Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, an area of West London. The London Fire Brigade dispatched more than 200 firefighters, at least 40 fire engines and about 20 ambulance crews in an effort to battle the inferno.
Fire officials said it took nearly two hours to gain control of the conflagration.
“This is an unprecedented incident,” London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters Wednesday night. “In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never, ever seen anything of this scale.”
The fire has left the building almost completely charred, and there were concerns about the tower’s structural integrity, as it appeared to lean slightly to one side.
It’s unclear exactly how many residents were inside the building at the time. But the tower, built in 1974, contained 120 apartments, according to its management company, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organization.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, who visited the still smoldering wreckage Thursday morning, promised a “proper investigation.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday he was “truly devastated” and warned that the death toll could increase.
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