A massive fire break out at a tower in west London , deaths

 YemenExtra

A massive fire left “a number” of people dead and several others injured in west London,Tin the 27-story Lancaster West Estate tower in the early hours of Wednesday when most of the residents would have still been in bed.

The fire brigade said 45 fire engines and 200 firefighters as well as 20 ambulances were sent to the building which has 120 flats and was built in 1974, but recently underwent a major refurbishment.

“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire,” London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly said.

“This is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances,” he said.

Several people are trapped inside the building with reports that it might collapse. Meanwhile, officials said a structural engineer was monitoring stability of the building.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said, “I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities.”

“I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building and it would clearly be wrong for me to speculate further,” Cotton added.

“Equally, the cause of this fire is not known at this stage.”

Meanwhile, Khan said later on Wednesday that there were still a lot of people “unaccounted for,” adding “fire crews only managed to reach the 12th floor at the height of the fire.”

He added that some of those people “could have found safe refuges in the homes of their neighbors or their friends.”

The streets around the tower have been sealed off and there was chaos there with “people in night clothes, no shoes, crying, looking for family.”

George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV program Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live, “I’m 100 meters 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.”