London tower fire: Video reveals disbelief of firefighters heading into 'Towering Inferno'
Updated
Footage recorded from inside a fire engine making its way to the Grenfell Tower fire shows the shock and disbelief of firefighters as the scale of the blaze becomes apparent.
The mobile phone footage, recorded by an unknown firefighter travelling in an engine on London's Westway, shows flames engulfing the 24-storey tower in the early hours of the morning.
"Is that — that's not a real block with people in it..?" one fireman asks. "F*** me".
Another voice asks "How the f*** are we gonna get in that?"
"There's f***ing kids in there," another voice says.
As the engine gets closer to the tower, the true scale of fire becomes apparent.
"That's a real block," says one man.
"Mate, it's Towering Inferno, innit," replies another.
'We tried, we're sorry', firefighters tell survivors at memorial
London firefighters fought to hold back tears on Monday as they gathered to observe a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, which is now known to have killed at least 79 people.
"We tried, we're sorry" read the words on a red t-shirt laid by firefighters near the memorial wall where people have been leaving flowers and written messages for the victims and those still missing people.
One firefighter, in his black protective suit with FIRE emblazoned in yellow on the back, embraced a distraught woman who had photos of a missing person printed on her top.
Briefing reporters at police headquarters, Metropolitan Police Stuart Cundy became visibly upset as he described conditions in the charred tower, where a search and recovery operation is expected to last weeks.
"I was in there myself and went all the way to the top floor and it is incredibly hard," he said, before pausing as tears welled up in his eyes.
"It is incredibly hard to describe the devastation in some parts of the building."
ABC/wires
Topics: fires, disasters-and-accidents, death, community-and-society, united-kingdom
First posted
