“Frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough.”

She added: “I have heard the concerns and I have ordered immediate action across the board to help victims’ relatives and the survivors.”

The Prime Minister, who has come in for widespread criticism for her response to the crisis, spoke after meeting victims of the disaster at No. 10 Downing Street for two and a half hours.

Mrs May announced that the cost for victims of legal representation at the public inquiry would be met by the Government.

And she ordered more staff to go into the area around Grenfell Tower to assist the coordination of the relief effort.

Mrs May said: “There have been huge frustrations that people do not know who to talk to, that they can’t get through on the council hotlines.</s>Niklas Halle’n/Getty Images(LONDON) — At least 58 people are missing and presumed dead from the massive fire that engulfed a residential high-rise building in London earlier this week, police said on Saturday.

This latest figure includes the 30 people already confirmed dead; 16 of those bodies are being held in a mortuary, including one person who died after being transported to a local hospital. The others have been recovered from the scorched structure, according to Metropolitan Police Service Commander Stuart Cundy.

“The figure of 58 are those who are missing and that we have to presume are dead,” Cundy said at a news conference in London Saturday afternoon. “It might be that some of those are safe and well, but for whatever reason have not reached [out] to let us know. Again, I would urge them if that is you, I don’t care the reason, please, please contact us.”

Cundy said the Metropolitan Police Service has formally identified one of the victims who died in the June 14 blaze as 23-year-old Mohammad Alhajali, a resident of the apartment building in the West London neighborhood of North Kensington. Alhajali and his brothers fled their home in Daraa, Syria, due to the ongoing civil war and moved to London in 2014.

“Mohammad was a very amazing and kind person. He gave love to everyone. He came to the U.K. because he had ambitions and aims for his life and for his family. Our whole family will miss Mohammad dearly, and he will never be forgotten. To God we belong, and to him we return,” Alhajali’s family said in a statement released by police.

Although the flames have now been extinguished, Cundy said rescuers don’t expect to find any survivors inside the building at this point.

Investigators believe the fire started at around 1 a.m. local time Wednesday on the fourth floor of the 24-story Grenfell Tower. 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.

It took nearly two hours to gain control of the conflagration, according to fire officials.

“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 Metropolitan Police Service, which is leading the ongoing investigation, believes it has identified the origin of the fire, which so far does not appear to have been intentional. The exact cause of the fire is still unknown.

In addition to those killed, the blaze injured at least 74 people. As of Saturday afternoon, 19 remain hospitalized, with 10 in critical condition, according to police.

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.

Cundy has said the ongoing operation to recover and identify all victims is a complex process, and some may never be identified.

“The conditions inside Grenfell Tower mean that the search-and-recovery operation to find and recover the victims is extremely challenging. The upper floors of the block are particularly hazardous due to the damage caused by the fire. The sad reality is that this work will take some time, stretching into many, many weeks,” the police commander said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

“Sadly, the nature of injuries caused by such an intense fire will mean the identification process will take some time. But it would also be deeply distressing for families for us to release wrong information,” he added.

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.

Search-and-recovery efforts were paused on Friday over safety concerns, but resumed Saturday afternoon, police said.

At the news conference Saturday afternoon, Cundy reiterated that the time it will take to find and recover victims will be “significant.”

“Both myself and colleagues from London Fire Brigade have already said it will take weeks. It may take longer than that. My commitment to families is that as soon as we can, we will locate and recover their loved ones,” he told reporters. “The reason we had to pause the search and recovery yesterday was for the safety of our staff. We do not want another fatality arising out of this tragedy.”

Following a meeting of the Grenfell Tower taskforce on Saturday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that a “London-wide local authority recovery operation” was established Friday in response to the devastating fire.

Khan said people were frustrated by the lack of information about the missing and the dead, as well as a lack of coordination between support services. Residents who survived the tower blaze lost everything and have no idea where they are going to live or how they will get back on their feet.

“The government must ensure the recovery operation receives all resources and expertise they need,” Khan said in a statement posted to Facebook. “I have stressed to the taskforce the need for local residents and the wider public to be provided with as much information as possible and for there to be maximum transparency.”

The move comes after Khan wrote an open letter to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, who chairs the taskforce, saying people were frustrated by the lack of information about the victims, as well as a lack of coordination between support services.

“The scale of this tragedy is clearly proving too much for the local authority to cope with on their own,” the mayor said in his open letter to the prime minister.

After meeting with survivors of the fire on Friday, May announced a 5 million pound ($6.4 million) fund to help them in their plight. The fund includes a guarantee to rehouse Grenfell Tower residents as close as possible to where they previously lived.

The Conservative Party leader has been criticized for failing to meet with survivors of the fire on her first visit to the site earlier this week.</s>Authorities in London said Saturday that 58 people are missing and presumed dead from this week's fire disaster at a London high-rise tower.

The update from police came as Prime Minster Theresa May was set to meet with survivors of the high-rise fire at her office at 10 Downing Street. May has faced a barrage of criticism for the government's initial response to the tragedy that authorities had initially said left at least 30 dead.

"The figure of 58 are those who are missing and that we have to presume are dead," said Commander Stuart Cundy, a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police. "It might be that some of those are safe and well but for whatever reason have not reached (out) to let us know. Again, I would urge them if that is you, I don't care the reason, please, please contact us."

Cundy added that it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify all the dead in the public housing block that was devastated by a fire early Wednesday. He also cautioned there may have been people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the death toll.

"My heart goes out to those affected,” Cundy said. "As soon as we can, we will locate and recover loved ones."

Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside 10 Downing Street on Saturday, raising chants that called May a "coward, British news outlets reported. Protesters are demanding to know why long-standing fire safety concerns raised by a tenants' group about the public housing tower, tucked in the city's ritzy North Kensington neighborhood, had not been addressed.

“She’s a coward and needs to leave," Tilly Howard, a protester told the Guardian. "The people are waking up to the right wing mainstream media and May just doesn’t get the public mood.”

Earlier on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip observed a minute of silence to honor the victims of the London high-rise fire. They paid their respect before the start of the annual Trooping the Color procession that marks the observance of the Queen's birthday.

The Queen said in a statement that she was "profoundly struck by the immediate inclination of people throughout the country to offer comfort and support to those in desperate need."

"Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity," she added. "United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss."</s>Some 58 people are now feared dead in the Grenfell Tower fire in west London, according to British police, PressTV reported.

"Sadly at this time, there are 58 people who we have been told were in Grenfell Tower on the night that are missing and therefore sadly I have to assume that they are dead," Police Commander Stuart Cundy told reporters on Saturday, adding that the figure could change.

The confirmed death toll in the fire has risen to 30. The police chief said the figure of 58 included that toll given earlier.

"The figure of 30 that I gave yesterday is the number that I know, sadly, have, at least, died. So that 58 would include that 30," he said.

However, according to Britain's Press Association, up to 70 people, in addition to those who are confirmed dead, are still missing.

And, according to some local residents there were some 500 residents at the Grenfell Tower when the fire broke out on Wednesday morning, and they say that not many could escape because the blaze engulfed the entire building rapidly.

So, the residents are saying that the final death toll could be much higher than the figure what British authorities are giving.</s>LONDON — Police in London, England, say 58 people who were in Grenfell Tower are missing and presumed dead in the fire.</s>LONDON (ABC) -- 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 deliberately started.

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 Wednesday he was "truly devastated" and warned that the death toll could increase.</s>Authorities in London said Saturday that 58 people missing are presumed dead from this week's fire disaster at a high-rise tower.

The update from police came as Prime Minster Theresa May met for more than two hours with survivors of the blaze at her office at 10 Downing Street. May has faced a barrage of criticism for the government's initial response to the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. The presumed dead includes 30 people authorities previously confirmed perished in the Wednesday morning blaze at the public housing complex.

Following the meeting, May issued in a statement in which she acknowledged that "support on the ground for families that needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough."

She said that the government has begun distributing funds from a $6.4 emergency fund created to assist victims of the blaze, and housing officials are conducting safety checks of other public high-rise towers in London. May also said that she has set a deadline of three weeks for all the survivors of the Grenfell fire to be placed in new housing.

"I have heard the concerns and I have ordered immediate action across the board to help victims’ relatives and the survivors," May said.

Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside 10 Downing Street on Saturday, raising chants that called May a "coward," British media reported. Protesters are demanding to know why long-standing fire safety concerns raised by a tenants' group about the public housing tower, tucked in the city's ritzy North Kensington neighborhood, had not been addressed. They also expressed anger that the prime minister did not meet with survivors or victims of the fire when she initially visited the neighborhood following the tragedy.

“She’s a coward and needs to leave," Tilly Howard, a protester told the Guardian newspaper. "The people are waking up to the right-wing, mainstream media and May just doesn’t get the public mood.”

Commander Stuart Cundy, a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police, also cautioned there may have been people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the death toll.

"The figure of 58 are those who are missing and that we have to presume are dead," said Cundy. "It might be that some of those are safe and well but for whatever reason have not reached (out) to let us know. Again, I would urge them if that is you, I don't care the reason, please, please contact us."

Cundy added that it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify all the dead in the housing block that was devastated. Police said 19 injured in the fire remain hospitalized, including 10 who were in critical condition.

The search of the 24-floor building had been paused on Friday due to safety concerns, but has now resumed, Cundy said. "My heart goes out to those affected,” Cundy said. "As soon as we can, we will locate and recover loved ones."

Cundy said authorities plan to release video and photographs from inside the badly-charred building.

nvestigators are trying to figure out why the fire spread so quickly to the top floors especially since the apartment complex underwent a $13 million refurbishment last year that included new thermal cladding to the exterior.

The Grenfell Action Group, the tenants' organization, had expressed concerns for years about the testing and maintenance of firefighting equipment and blocked emergency access to the site. “All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable,” the group said after the fire broke out, according to the Associated Press.

In a blog post written last year, the Grenfell Action Group warned of "dangerous living conditions" in the tower. "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."

CTMO, the Kensington and Chelsea Management Organization, has managed the building on behalf of local public authorities who own it. The management organization said it was aware of the complaints made by residents, but that it was "too early to speculate what caused the fire and contributed to its spread."

Earlier on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip observed a moment of silence to honor the victims. They paid their respects before the start of the annual Trooping the Color procession that marks the observance of the queen's birthday.

The queen said in a statement that she was "profoundly struck by the immediate inclination of people throughout the country to offer comfort and support to those in desperate need."

"Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity," she added. "United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss."</s>British police say 58 people are missing and presumed to have died in this week’s blaze at a west London highrise apartment building.

“Sadly at this time, there are 58 people who we have been told were in Grenfell Tower on the night that are missing and therefore, sadly, I have to assume that they are dead,” Cmdr. Stuart Cundy told reporters on Saturday, adding that the figure could change.

This latest figure, based on reports from the public, included the 30 already confirmed to have died in the fire in west London early Wednesday.

Cundy said there may have been people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the death toll.

He said it will take “weeks or longer” to recover and identify all the dead in the social housing building that was left charred and gutted by the devastating blaze.

He reiterated there is a police investigation underway and that it will look at how the fire spread.

“It will look at the building itself.”

Cundy promised an “exhaustive investigation” into the tragedy and said “my heart goes out to those affected.”

Prime Minister Theresa May met Saturday at 10 Downing Street with the families of some of the victims, along with volunteers and community leaders from the North Kensington neighbourhood where the building caught fire.

She visited the site of the fire on Latimer Road on Thursday, speaking to first responders. May returned to the neighbourhood the following day to meet with survivors at St. Clement’s Church while angry protesters waited outside. Some shouted “coward” as she left by a side door.

May announced on Friday that her government has set up a £5 million ($ 8.4 million Cdn) “discretionary fund” to help pay for food, clothing, personal supplies and funerals. The U.K. government has also promised to find homes for the survivors within three weeks at the latest.

​Residents of the tower say May was far too slow to visit the stricken community, that the building had been unsafe, and that officials have failed to give enough information and support to those who have lost relatives and their homes.

Survivors and families of the victims are demanding answers in light of reports that external panelling put up during a recent renovation contributed to the flames’ rapid spread.</s>LONDON—London police said Saturday that 58 people were presumed dead from the high-rise tower fire earlier this week, but warned the number might change as the search operation continues.

The number included the previously announced death toll of 30, London police commander Stuart Cundy said.

The fire ripped through the hulking 24-story...</s>London police say 58 people who were in Grenfell Tower are still missing and assumed to be dead.

Police Commander Stuart Cundy said Saturday that this number, which was based on reports from the public, may rise. He says it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify all the dead in the public housing block that was devastated by a fire early Wednesday.

He said there may have been people in the tower that police are not aware of, which would add to the death toll.

He says the search for remains had been paused because of safety concerns but has resumed. Emergency workers have reached the top of the 24-story tower.

Cundy promised an exhausting investigation into the tragedy. He says "my heart goes out to those affected."

Service on two London Underground lines were partially suspended because of concerns about the safety of the high-rise in the fire that killed at least 30 people.

London's fire department said that the reason for the subway closure near the high-rise fire disaster is because of a "short-term risk of some debris falling onto the tracks."
The suspected death toll of the fire in North Kensington, London earlier in the week significantly increases, as the Metropolitan Police Service reports that a minimum of 58 people are missing and feared dead.