Prime Minister Theresa May has promised a "proper investigation" after the fire tore through the 24-storey building early on Wednesday morning amid growing concerns about how the fire could have spread so rapidly.
Nadia Yousuf, 29, also told reporters that Muslim residents were among the first to realize something was going on.
"The response of people living nearby who provided help, compassion and support has I think once again shown the fantastic spirit of London", she said.
MARCIA LEVI: People were waving flags, whatever they had, waving, trying to get people's attention, yelling, asking for help, screaming. She left with all six of them. "This is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, diverse community that just didn't get served by the people representing them".
According to the reports the mom then hurtled her baby from the flat and it was caught by a man standing below.
"A lady from what she was saying: 'I'm about to throw my baby".
"People were starting to appear at the windows, frantically banging and screaming", Lamrani told Britain's Press Association news agency.
"The baby just sort of dropped in a straight line, and a guy just ran forward and the baby fell into his arms", she said.
Another witness, Saimar Lleshi, saw people tying together sheets to try to escape. Neighbor Marcia Levi said she was horrified that it raced so quickly upward, leaving people trapped on the highest floors.
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Reuters was unable to verify the witness accounts.
It is too early to say whether cladding added to the exterior of the block to make it look modern was a factor in the rapid spread of the fire.
London Fire Brigade said the fire engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the block which contained 130 apartments.
Met police commander Stuart Cundy said the death toll is likely to rise further as he does not "think any more survivors will be found". Large pieces of debris could be seen falling from the building, a 1970s local authority-built block in the working-class north Kensington area.
In real time, the story of Grenfell Tower played out across the wires: a building in a public housing estate whose neighbourhood action group had warned would go up sooner or later, who had mused that it would have no action taken over it until there was a catastrophe.
12 people have been confirmed dead in the Grenfell Tower fire in London's Kensington.
Grenfell Tower, built in 1974, was refurbished at a cost of STG8.7 million ($A14.6 million), with work completed in May 2016.
Many people are unaccounted for and firefighters are continuing to tackle "pockets of fire", with the operation now in the "recovery phase".
"The last time I spoke with them was at 1.45".
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