LONDON - Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in which 71 people and an unborn child lost their lives voiced outrage on Thursday after police said the criminal investigation would be delayed for at least two years.
London's Metropolitan Police said Wednesday it would wait before filing any possible criminal charges until the completion of an ongoing public inquiry into the blaze, which enveloped the block on June 14, 2017.
Many former residents at the site in the west of the British capital blamed the fire's rapid spread on cladding installed as part of a refurbishment.
The police said it was unlikely to submit a file to prosecutors before "the latter part of 2021".
"I know this is longer than some might have anticipated," Matt Bonner, the officer in charge of the investigation, said in a statement.
Natasha Elcock, a tower resident who heads the Grenfell United survivors' group, said: "We are living in a limbo with no individuals or organizations being held accountable and it is so painful for all us who lost loved ones and our homes that night.
"We wait month after month, our lives on hold, for some kind of justice and progress. It is extremely frustrating and disheartening to now be told this will be our way of life for years to come," she said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told BBC radio: "It's not surprising that the police want to see where the evidence takes them, but it will be distressing for many victims, many survivors".
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON - A blaze engulfed a 24-storey housing block in central London on Wednesday, trapping residents as they slept and killing at least 12 people in an inferno that the fire brigade said was unprecedented in its scale and speed.
More than 200 firefighters, backed up by 40 fire engines, fought for hours to try to control the blaze, London's deadliest for a generation. The Grenfell Tower apartment block was home to about 600 people.
A local residents' group said it had predicted such a catastrophe on their low-rent housing estate that overlooks affluent parts of the Kensington area of the capital, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there were questions to answer.
Prime Minister Theresa May promised there would be a proper investigation into the disaster, which delayed her talks on trying to secure a parliamentary deal to stay in power and launch talks on Britain's exit from the European Union.
Some residents screamed for help from behind upper-floor windows and others tried to throw children to safety as flames raced through the Grenfell block of about 120 apartments just before 1 a.m.
Firefighters said they had rescued 65 people - some in pyjamas - from the 43-year-old block.
"We could see a lot of children and parents screaming for 'Help! Help! Help!' and putting their hands on the window and asking to help them," Amina Sharif told Reuters.
"We could do nothing and we could see the stuff on the side was falling off, collapsing. We were just standing screaming and they were screaming."
TYING SHEETS TOGETHER
Another witness, Saimar Lleshi, saw people tying together sheets to try to escape.
"I saw three people putting sheets together to climb down, but no one climbed down. I don’t know what happened to them. Even when the lights went off, people were waving with white shirts to be seen," Lleshi said.
The fire sent up plumes of smoke that could be seen from miles away. The ambulance service said 68 people were being treated in hospital, with 18 in critical condition.
More than 16 hours after the fire started, crews were still trying to douse flames as they sought to reach the top floors.
But London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters he did not believe further survivors would be found in the building.
At a nearby community centre used to house some of those rescued, tensions were rising as occupants waited for news.
"The fire, which was unprecedented in its scale and speed, will be subject to a full fire investigation," said Steve Apter from the London Fire Brigade. "Any lessons learnt from this will be borne out not just across London, across the UK - and lessons learnt globally."
The emergency services said it was too early to say what had caused the inferno, which left the block a charred, smoking shell. Some residents said no alarm had sounded. Others said they had warned repeatedly about fire safety in the block.
The building had recently undergone an 8.7 million pound ($11.08 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.
"We will cooperate with the relevant authorities and emergency services and fully support their enquiries into the causes of this fire at the appropriate time," Rydon, the firm behind the refurbishment work, said in a statement.
CHILDREN THROWN TO SAFETY
Residents who escaped told how they woke up to the smell of burning and rushed to leave through smoke-filled corridors and stairwells.
There were reports that some leapt out of windows. Other witnesses spoke of children including a baby being thrown to safety from high windows.
Tamara, one witness, told the BBC: "There's people, like, throwing their kids out, 'Just save my children, just save my children!'".
Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said sprinkler systems should be installed in such blocks and he called on the government to make a statement in parliament.
Fire Minister Nick Hurd said local authorities and fire services across the country would assess tower blocks undergoing similar renovation work to provide reassurance.
"In due course when the scene is secure, when it is possible to identify the cause of this fire, there will be proper investigation and if there are any lessons to be learned, they will be and action will be taken," May said.
Khan, the London mayor, said there needed to be answers after some residents said they had been advised they should stay in their flats in the event of a fire.
"What we can't have is a situation where people's safety is put at risk because of bad advice being given or, if it is the case, as has been alleged, of tower blocks not being properly serviced or maintained," Khan said.
Resident Michael Paramasivan told BBC radio he had spoken to a woman who lived on the 21st floor: "She has got six kids. She left with all six of them. When she got downstairs, there was only four of them with her. She is now breaking her heart."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON - Shaken survivors of a blaze that ravaged a west London tower block told Wednesday of seeing people trapped or jump to their doom as flames raced towards the building's upper floors and smoke filled the corridors.
Hanan Wahabi, 39, who lives on the ninth floor of the 27-storey Grenfell Tower, said she was awoken around 1:00am (0000 GMT) by smoke.
"I could see there was ash coming through the window in the living room, which was partially open," she said, sitting with her husband and son, 16, and daughter, eight, outside a local community center.
"I looked out and I could see the fire travelling up the block. It was literally by my window," she said. "I slammed the window shut and got out."
After the family escaped, she called her brother, who lives on the 21st floor, to see if he was all right.
"The fire hadn't reached the top of the block at that point," Wahabi said.
"He said he had been told to stay inside, stay in one room together and put towels under the door. I told him to leave. He said he was going to come. Then I called him and he said there was too much smoke."
She added: "The last time I saw him they were waving out the window, his wife and children. The last time I spoke to his wife, he was on the phone to the fire brigade. I've not heard from them since, the phone is not going through, the landline isn't going through. That was about 2:00am."
A witness identified as Daniel told BBC Radio London that people on the upper floors were trapped as the flames rose higher and higher.
"People have been burned," he said. "I have seen it with my own eyes. And I have seen people jump."
Another witness named as Jody Martin said he battled his way his way to the second floor only to encounter choking smoke.
"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.
'I'M A GONER
Another survivor at the community center, wearing shorts, a T-shirts and trainers and with a blanket draped around his shoulders, said he saved his own life with just moments to spare.
"My neighbor's smoke alarm went off and I thought he might have done some cooking," he said, giving only his first name of Eddie, 55.
"I was in bed and I heard people shout fire, fire, I opened my door and loads of smoke came in. Then two seconds later my neighbour (on fifth floor) called and said, 'Get the fuck out the building'!"
"I went into the bathroom and I got the towel and wet it and wrapped it around my head. I run out into the hallway, close the door behind me and ran for where I thought the fire exit was. I didn't find it. It was a matter of life and death -- I thought, 'If I'm in this for another five seconds, I'm a goner'."
"Then on the ground there was a fireman, he touched my leg and pulled me into where the fire stairwell was. You couldn't see anything. I just ran down the stairs. There wasn't that many people on the stairs.
"Loads of people haven't got out of the building."
Abdul Hamid, 51, lives on the 16th floor lost everything he owned but counted himself lucky to be alive.
"I have nothing. My passport was in there -- it's gone. I'm meant to be flying to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. Now I'm homeless."
ar/ri/dt
source: news.abs-cbn.com
