A huge fire has raged through the night at a tower block in Latimer Road, west London, with eyewitnesses claiming people are trapped in their homes.
The fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate was reported at 12:54 BST and about 200 firefighters are still tackling the blaze.
The Met Police said people were being treated for “a range of injuries”.
The BBC said the whole tower block had been alight and there were fears the building might collapse.
BBC correspondent Simon Lederman said he understood “a significant number of people” were unaccounted for.
Forty fire engines have been sent to the tower, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said a “major incident” had been declared.
Police said: “Residents continue to be evacuated from the tower block.”
Eyewitnesses said they have seen lights – thought to be mobile phones or torches – flashing at the top of the block of flats.
Others says residents – thought to be trapped inside – have been seen coming to their windows.
An unmanned hydraulic platform has been shooting water at the side of the building at about the 10th floor.
Simon Lederman said firefighters had not been able to tackle the flames on higher storeys.
He said the tower could be seen burning “from miles away”, adding that the building had been “burning out of control”, from the tenth floor onwards.
London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly said firefighters were “working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire”.
“This is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances.”
London Ambulance Service medics specially trained in life-saving medical care in hazardous environments have also been sent to the fire.
According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the tower block contains 120 flats and is 24 storeys high.
It is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) on behalf of the council and had undergone a two-year, £10m refurbishment that was completed last year.
The work included new exterior cladding and a communal heating system.
The local Grenfell Action Group has claimed since 2013 that the block constituted a fire risk and residents had warned that access to the site for emergency vehicles was “severely restricted”.
Source: BBC
