Witnesses to a fatal fire at a London tower block have told of the horror of seeing terrified residents jumping from their units while on fire.
The fire service on Wednesday morning confirmed there had been a ânumber of fatalitiesâ at the blaze in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower, and that 50 people had been taken to hospitals across the capital.
Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from the building since the fire first took hold just after 1.15am. Some residents are reportedly still trapped inside the tower as it teeters on the brink of collapse.
Multiple witnesses have described how they saw people âjumping out of windowsâ and using ropes made of bedsheets to escape the blaze.
A witness at the scene told HuffPost UK that she saw a woman desperately wrap a baby in a sheet and throw her from a window.
âThere were screeches and there was someone gesturing that there was a lady at the window. As I looked up, a lady was frantically gesturing and screaming that she was about to throw her baby.
âShe wrapped it in a sheet and threw the young baby out the window. And a member of the public. A young guy ran forward and miraculously grabbed it at the right moment. And the dhow of what Iâm assuming is the mother went backwards and thatâs the last we saw.â
Another witness, Samira Lamrani, said her daughterâs friends saw people âjumping out of the building with bin bagsâ in an attempt to slow their fall.
Another eyewitness, named only as Samira, told the BBC: âI saw people flying out of their balconies and windows. I saw a man who flew out of his window, I saw people screaming for help. We saw a lot of people jumping out that basically didnât make it. It was from the eighth floor and up, and that kind of floor you wouldnât really make it.â
Samira told the BBC that the fire escalated âreally quicklyâ from âzero to 100â.
At first it was visible around the third floor, then âbefore you know it, the whole 23 floors of the building were all on fire and there were people screaming for help and throwing kids outâ.
She said residents and bystanders âfelt really helpless because no-one could get to themâ.
âEveryone was really scared and they didnât know what to do and it was really sad to see.
âThese are all people that we grew up with and people that we see every day, like our neighbours.â
Samira told the broadcaster that the block was full of children, elderly people and the disabled and that there were still a lot of people unaccounted for.
Another eyewitness, Tamara, told the BBC: âYou could hear people screaming âhelp me, help meâ.
âThere were people throwing their kids out [of windows], they were shouting âsave my childrenâ.â
Daniel, told BBC Radio London, that people on the upper floors has become trapped by the rising flames:
âPeople have been burned,â he said. âI have seen it with my own eyes. And I have seen people jump.â
Sky News reported that witnesses had described hearing screams, watching people fall out of the high-rise block and seeing a woman holding a baby out of a window.
Residents were also heard shouting from their flats, seen waving for help from their windows and shining torches and mobile phones from within the fire to alert fire fighters to their location.
MailOnline quoted one unidentified woman as saying that residents faced âeither jumping out the window with their children and risk breaking bones or staying where you were and dyingâ.
London Fire Brigade commissioner Danny Cotton confirmed shortly before 8am that there had been a ânumber of fatalitiesâ but did not specify how many.
She described the blaze as âunprecedentedâ and the worst she had come across during her 29-year career.
More than 200 firefighters and 40 engines are in attendance at the scene on the Lancaster West Estate, north Kensington.
Actor and writer Tim Downie, who lives around 600 metres from the scene in Latimer Road, told the Press Association he feared the block could collapse.
He said: âItâs horrendous. The whole building is engulfed in flames. Itâs gone. Itâs just a matter of time before this building collapses.
âI just hope they have got everyone out.
âThe first I knew was the noise of sirens, helicopters and shouting. I saw it engulfed in flames.
âPeople have been bringing water, clothes, anything theyâve got to help, out to the cordon.
âI have seen people coming out in their bedclothes - itâs just very distressing.â
Residents are continuing to be evacuated from the tower block, the Metropolitan Police said.
Fire crews from north Kensington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Paddington and surrounding stations were at the scene.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage, London Fire Brigade said.
Fabio Bebber wrote on Twitter: âMore screams for help as the fire spreads to another side of the building.
âWe can see how quick the fire spreads via the external panels. Itâs unbearable hearing someone screaming for their lives at #grenfelltower.â
George Clarke, who presents the Channel 4 TV show Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live: âI was in bed and heard âbeep, beep, beepâ and thought, âIâll get up and run downstairs as quickly as I couldâ.
âI thought it might be a car alarm outside and saw the glow through the windows.
âIâm getting covered in ash, thatâs how bad it is. Iâm 100 metres away and Iâm absolutely covered in ash.
âItâs so heartbreaking, Iâve seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously canât get out.
âThe guys are doing an incredible job to try and get people out that building, but itâs truly awful.â
Celeste Thomas, who lives near the scene, said: âPolice moving everyone back. I literally live across the road. Hundreds of people outside. Residents and families trying to find each other.
âPolice have moved everyone back out of direct sight but can hear cracking and debris falling.â
London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly said: âFirefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire.
âThis is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances.â