Flames tore through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington overnight, leaving people trapped on upper floors - some holding babies out of windows and others jumping from their flats.
"I could see people from all angles, banging and screaming for help. Help! Help!' and putting their hands on the window and asking to help them", Amina Sharif, a witness, told Reuters.
Large pieces of debris could be seen falling from the building, a 1970s local authority-built block in the working-class north Kensington area. "We need to support them with spare necessities". High-rise buildings are created to resist fire, stop the spread of smoke and provide a safe means of escape. He has since spotted many of his neighbors, but added there were many others he did not see. "I don't know what happened to them".
More than 250 firefighters, 40 fire trucks, and 100 ambulance medics rushed to the apartment tower starting within six minutes of getting the call at 2:54 a.m., and the building was still on fire 10 hours later. Later on, the death toll was confirmed to be six and expected to rise. The causes of the fire, one of the biggest in London in memory, were not immediately known.
The £8.7 million (9.9 million euro, $11 million) refurbishment of the block was completed previous year and included new windows and heating system.
Two women who live nearby watched the blaze break out described the horror of seeing people leap from the tower to save themselves.
Pictures from the scene showed flames engulfing the block and a plume of smoke visible across the capital, while others showed residents looking out of windows.
"Last time I saw him they were waving out of the window, his wife and children", she said, sitting outside a community centre that is serving as a hub for displaced residents.
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Witnesses who posted images on social media said that all the block's floors were filled with flames. She has got six kids. However, when she reached the ground floor, she realized that she only had four of her children.
Michael Paramaseevan, who lives on the seventh floor with his partner and young daughter, told the British broadcaster that he ignored official advice to stay in his apartment.
"The windows were slightly ajar - a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby", Lamrani said, according to the BBC.
Another witness, Tamara, told the BBC she also saw people trying to throw their children to safety.
"This is an unprecedented situation", Dany Cotton, the London Fire Brigade commissioner, said in a statement.
Standing near the burned-down apartment building, residents also reproached authorities, saying that members of a fire brigade had checked alarms in the building as recently as Saturday.
Cotton said a number of people died in the fire, but she couldn't confirm how many because of the size and complexity of the building.
"To get into the building we had to run the gauntlet of the debris".
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