Calls for answers as enormity of London tragedy becomes clear

When Theresa May visited the scene of the fire at Grenfell Tower in west London on Thursday, she spoke to firefighters and other emergency workers but did not meet any residents of the tower block. Jeremy Corbyn arrived a little later, chatting to community activists, hugging distressed residents and promising to ensure that the truth about the fire comes out.

As the search and rescue operation continued, the enormity of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower became clearer. Dozens of people remained missing, many of them believed to have perished in the upper floors of the building.

As hope faded for those not yet accounted for, poignant stories about the victims began to emerge. The first of the dead to be identified was Mohammed Alhajali, a 23-year-old refugee from Syria who had lived in London since 2014.

Alhajali, described as “kind, charitable and full of passion for his family”, was on the phone for two hours with a friend in Syria while the fire raged, as he waited to be rescued from his flat.

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“When the fire reached his flat on the 14th floor, Mohammed bid his friend goodbye, saying that the fire had reached him,” the Syria Solidarity Campaign said in a statement.

“Mohammed undertook a dangerous journey to flee war and death in Syria, only to meet it here in the UK, in his own home. Mohammed came to this country for safety and the UK failed to protect him.”

The prime minister's promise of a judge-led public inquiry into the fire prompted Labour MP Harriet Harman to warn that it must not be used as an excuse for delay.

“There doesn’t have to be a delay. It’s wrong if there is a delay because people are living in thousands of tower blocks all around the country and they need to know the lessons are going to be learned quickly,” she said.

Cladding

Any investigation into the cause of the fire will have to look at the role of cladding on the outside of the building in accelerating the progress of the blaze through the tower. Residents had raised a number of safety concerns weeks before the fire, including fears about exposed gas pipes.

Some of those who died in the fire are believed to have followed instructions posted on each floor, advising them to remain in their flats in the event of a fire. They were told that heavy fire doors would keep the fire at bay and allow them to be rescued within an hour but the blaze raged so rapidly that most of those who obeyed the “stay put” instruction were later unable to escape.

The tragedy at Grenfell Tower has prompted calls for all residential tower blocks in Britain to be fitted with sprinkler systems and for an investigation into whether refurbishments of older blocks could have compromised fire safety.