Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police said: "Sadly I can confirm that there are now 12 people that have died that we know of".
The London Fire Brigade confirmed there were "a number of fatalities" but could not confirm the total figure. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter that a major incident had been declared.
As firefighters continue to tend to the scene in Greater London, Jamie took to Instagram to share a heartfelt message to the hundreds of residents who have been displaced by evacuating the building.
People trapped by the advancing flames and thick smoke banged on windows and screamed for help, witnesses and survivors said.
A resident of Grenfell Tower is trapped as smoke billows from the window after a fire engulfed the building.
Mr Chellat, a relative of missing residents from the Grenfell Tower in west London, told the broadcaster the fire happened when "everybody is awake to have their last supper", before opening their fast for the day. "In my 29 years of being a firefighter I have never, ever seen anything of this scale". I just hope they have got everyone out. Flames could still be seen more than 10 hours later.
The Grenfell Action Group, a community organization, says it has repeatedly warned about the risk of fire at the building since 2013. Local resident Andre Barroso told The Independent, "Muslims played a big part in getting a lot of people out".
"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.
Ruks Mamudu, 69, escaped from her first floor apartment wearing only her purple pajamas and bathrobe.
- 125 families live in the building, which also has a children's nursery.
"There were people banging on windows screaming, crying out for help". This child was about five-years-old and he was with his mother on the fifth or sixth floor. "But there was a sense of hesitation from the firefighters; they didn't start putting out the fire with water until 3am". It was fire up, up, up. "They couldn't stop the fire".
Death toll rises to 12 in London apartment building inferno
The group has raised concerns about testing and maintenance of firefighting equipment and blocked emergency access to the site. They couldn't stop it". "I'm lucky to be alive", Mr Daffarn said. "I'm standing here in everything I've got".
Survivors said they saw the flames outside their windows, rising up the exterior of the building, which had recently been covered in cladding during a major refurbishment finished a year ago.
"When I put the television on and saw the images I thought "crikey", I haven't seen anything as frightening as that since 9/11".
Alex Ritson, reporting from London for NPR, says the blaze appeared to start on a lower floor of the building and spread with astonishing speed.
Witnesses described a white, polystyrene-type material falling like snow from the building as it burned.
Filipinos were injured in the fire that ravaged a west London tower block on Wednesday, June 14, the Philippine embassy in London said.
Michael Paramasivan, who lives on the seventh floor with his girlfriend and her young daughter, told BBC News that the official advice in case of fire is to stay inside your apartment.
"I woke up and looked at my phone when I saw what had happened", said Nath, who is from Ryhope but now living at student accommodation Clanny House, in Pallion.
Some residents said no alarm had sounded.
"I grabbed my little girl and ran down the stairs", he said.
The building had recently undergone an 8.7 million pound ($11.08 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows. In 2016 the group raised concerns about whether the emergency exits could become blocked in the event of a large-scale fire.
With the fire now under control, a lengthy investigation will begin. "Most of the people I could see were Muslim".
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