windows weren t, and there were people in there. you could see the silhouettes. and then the next thing, explosions. the london fire brigade desperately struggled to reach the upper floors, but were repelled by the heat and falling debris. this is a completely unprecedented fire. in my 29 years in the london fire brigade, i have never seen a fire of this nature and i have seen many high rise fires. residents are sheltering in nearby community centres, some are missing family members. the investigation begins into how the fire started, and how it was allowed to take hold with such devastating effect. around 70 people are being treated in six london hospitals, 20 people are in a critical condition. the fire is still burning firefighters say it will still be some hours before it s out. we ll be bringing you the latest, in this extended programme. stay with bbc news for all the developments from our correspondence. good evening from west london where a huge fire is still burn
hearing from them later in the programme. we will hearfrom karl mercer at a nearby mosque which opened its doors to help those in need tonight, who were evacuated from the tower block itself. alice has a different vantage point of the one i ve got now. firstly, i think we should hear from those affected most. people who tonight are counting themselves lucky to escape alive. people who lost their homes and in many cases, people who have lost just about everything and in many cases, people who have lostjust about everything they own. lostjust about everything they own. . . today lostjust about everything they own. today is the 14th ofjune. .. 2am, i was woken up by the siren noise. it was my son that woke me up. i think it was about 1:20am. and where were you? on the 17th floor. we grabbed them. we ran downstairs, it took us a solid four minutes to get out, just as i was entering the ground floor, the fire brigade was coming up. it was moving very fast. i cannot imagine, it was
fire. in my 29 years in the london fire brigade i have never seen a fire of this nature and i have seen many high rise fires. around 70 people are being treated in six london hospitals, 18 of them are in a critical condition. in the us, a gunman opens fire on republican members of congress during a baseball practice in virginia. the attacker is killed by police officers. we are united in our shock. we are united in our anguish. we are united in our shock. we are united in ouranguish. an we are united in our shock. we are united in our anguish. an attack on one of us is an attack on all others. of us. 21 hours after this fire started in g ru nfeld 21 hours after this fire started in gru nfeld tower, the 21 hours after this fire started in grunfeld tower, the fire is still blazing. the fire service had been working tirelessly to put the fire out. they have managed to get a hydraulic crane imposition and they are firing water remotely into the upperfloors of are firing water
to reach the upper floors because of intense heat and falling debris. this is a completely unprecedented fire. in my 29 years in the london fire brigade i have never seen a fire of this nature, and i have seen many high rise fires. residents have been taking shelter in nearby community centres, some are still looking for missing relatives. she said we can t do it because the smoke is killing her, the smoke is coming. the smoke is coming through the doors, she s keep covering it but. it s everywhere. and that was the last time we heard from her. there s no word yet on the cause of the blaze. residents say they had raised concerns about fire safety in the block. dozens of people are being treated in london s hospitals, 18 are said to be in a critical condition. the block had recently been refurbished. ministers have ordered urgent checks on buildings where similar work has been carried out. stay with bbc news throughout the evening for all the developments from our corresponden
we are united in our shock. we are united in our anguish. we are united in our shock. we are united in ouranguish. an we are united in our shock. we are united in our anguish. an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. welcome to this special edition of bbc world news as firefighters in west london are still at the scene of a horrendous fire that has killed at least 12 people. the blaze at the 2a storey tower block began in the early hours of wednesday morning. many people are still missing and the police have warned the number of dead is expected to rise significantly. our special coverage begins with this report from our uk home editor, mark easton. oh my god, they re screaming! it is a tragedy that plays to our darkest fears. there was smoke everywhere, literally everywhere. there was people downstairs, bits of the block, cladding, falling off the block. that was on fire. screaming. people screaming. it wasjust people jumping out, literally. and putting sheets down