Theresa May orders public inquiry into tower fire

The campaign group said Alhajali's brother was rescued by fire crews.

As they were about to leave, a man holding a poster showing two missing siblings called for William to go over.

The figure includes one person who has passed away after being taken to hospital.

Mr Cundy vowed police "will get to the answer of what has happened and why", adding: "If criminal offences have been committed it is us who will investigate that".

In an interview with The Huffington Post UK, Grenfell Tower resident Khalid Suleman Ahmed said he had been waiting for suhūr when he began to smell smoke.

Cundy said identifying victims will be very challenging and police will use global disaster victim protocols which include dental records, fingerprints and DNA.

Peter Vanezis, who is professor of forensic medical sciences at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said on Thursday difficulties in locating the bodies among the charred remains will likely provide the first hurdle for detectives.

A massive fire engulfed the Grenfell Towers in London early on Wednesday killing at least 17 people and injuring several others, with some in critical condition. The number of victims is expected to grow.

Six bodies have so far been recovered from the gutted 24-storey tower, while 11 have been located inside but can not yet be removed.

Conservative defence minister Tobias Ellwood earlier suggested she had not met residents for "security reasons".

Locals yelled questions at Mayor Sadiq Khan as he walked through the west London neighbourhood.

Officials expect the death toll to rise with an unspecified number of people still missing.

The queen says "Prince Philip and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of firefighters and other emergency services officers who put their own lives at risk to save others".

The area has a large immigrant population, but many families have lived in the area for years, passing on their low-rent homes to their children. "What are you going to do about it?" asked a 7-year-old boy, Kai Ramos.

More than £1 million has been raised to help those affected by the fire, with more than 60 tonnes of donations collected by one local mosque.

Many other London councils have released statements providing reassurance to residents living in tall blocks of flats.

Police have said they fear the blaze was so devastating that some victims may never be identified.

The visit can be seen as a response to the anger of residents from the west London neighborhood because May had visited the scene of the fire without meeting victims.

Struggling through the trauma of what they witnessed, London firefighters combed through a devastated apartment tower on Thursday, trying to make sure the sooty, hulking ruin was structurally safe enough to let them keep searching for those still missing.

The 200 plus fearless men and women have been working around the clock to extinguish the inferno and rescue as many people as they can, with London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton saying: "They were never going to stop until they physically could not get in there anymore".