London inferno deaths rise to 30, many missing

The deaths in the horrific Grenfell Tower blaze here has risen to 30 and is expected to soar significantly as dozens of people remain missing, the Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

At least 24 people remain in hospital, including 12 in critical care, said Metropolitan Police commander Stuart Cundy, the Telegraph reported.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Cundy said: "I'm able to say at this point in time at least 30 people have died as a result of this fire."

He said more bodies remain in the building following the fire. "Sadly, we do not expect there to be any survivors."

Cundy also said there was nothing to suggest that the fire was started deliberately.

Dozens of people remain missing after the fire rapidly engulfed the 24-storey building in North Kensington in the early hours of Wednesday.

Anger and frustration mounted in the London neighbourhood stunned by the tragedy as relatives and friends of the missing made increasingly desperate appeals for information.

More than 70 people remain unaccounted for since the blaze, which police fear was so devastating that some victims might never be identified.

Cundy said the building was in a "very hazardous state" and that it would take a period of time for "specialists to fully search that building to make sure we locate and recover everybody that has sadly perished in that fire".

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Cambridge visited the area to meet residents and community representatives and signed a book of condolence in front of a wall plastered with "missing persons" posters describing those feared lost in the fire.

--IANS

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