Six confirmed dead in London tower block fire

A massive fire which engulfed the Grenfell Tower block in London's Notting Hill overnight has led to at least six fatalities, according to Metropolitan Police.

The fire continued to rage throughout the building on Wednesday morning, with reports suggesting there were still people trapped inside the residential block in west London.

Emergency services were contacted shortly before 1am in the capital, with 200 firefighters being deployed to the area along with 40 fire engines. Along with ambulance crews, the firefighters are continuing to tackle the blaze.

"I can confirm six fatalities at this time but this figure is likely to rise during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days," London Metropolitan Police commander Stuart Cundy said.

According to the London Ambulance Service, 50 people were taken to hospitals across the city by mid morning on Wednesday.

London Fire Commissioner Danny Cotton said it was an "unprecedented situation", confirming that the fire "has affected all floors of this 24 storey building, from the second floor up".

Emergency services were contacted shortly before 1am in the capital

“At this time I am sad to confirm that we now know that there have been fatalities,” Cotton said in a statement early on Wednesday.

The cause of the fire has not yet been established, while a structural engineer has concluded that the tower is not in danger of collapsing.

Local councillor Judith Blakeman, who lives across the road from Grenfell Tower, said there was between 400 and 600 people living in the block.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said that he was "devastated" at the scenes that were unfolding at Greenfell, and vowed to provide answers for those in the city.

"My heart goes out to everyone affected. I am sad to confirm that we now know there have been fatalities and more than fifty people have been taken to hospitals including Royal Free, King's St. Thomas's, St Mary's and Chelsea and Westminster to be treated for injuries," Khan said.

He continued: "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."

Grenfell Tower, built in the 1970s as part of a larger social housing complex in the Lancaster West estate in north Kensington, underwent a £10m refurbishment in 2016.

Following this, the tower received a fire risk assessment last June and was assessed as being a "medium" fire risk, defined as presenting a normal fire risk.

However, local residents’ organisation Grenfell Action Group has been consistently critical of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), which it claims has not done enough to reduce fire risk in the building.

In November 2016, the group wrote a blog in which it claimed a major fire was narrowly prevented at the tower in 2013.

The blog read: "It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO (Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation), and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders.

“Unfortunately, the Grenfell Action Group have reached the conclusion that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation.”

Concerns about the safety of the building were raised as early as 2012, when a health and safety review found fire safety equipment had not been checked for up to four years.

There was also concern last year from residents about the single emergency exit to the building.