London fire: 79 people now confirmed dead or missing after Grenfell Tower high-rise blaze

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Banned cladding contributed to London fire The new exterior cladding used in a renovation on London's Grenfell Tower may have been banned under UK building regulations. Nearly a dozen other buildings in London are believed to also contain the combustible material.

LONDON — British authorities said Monday that 79 people were now confirmed dead or missing after the June 14 high-rise fire that has angered the British public and placed pressure on the government of Prime Minister Theresa May.

Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy announced the new death toll — up from 58 — and said the figure could still change. Authorities are trying to determine whether any criminal offenses were made by the building's managers, with residents complaining for years the apartment building was a fire trap.

“It’s hard to describe the devastation the fire has caused,” Cundy said, fighting back tears as he spoke.

Britain held a moment of silence for the victims Monday; emergency service workers at the building site bowed their heads in respect.

British officials said Sunday that exterior cladding used in a recent renovation of the building may have been banned under building regulations in the United Kingdom.

Chancellor Phillip Hammond, a senior member of May's Cabinet, told the BBC that investigators were looking at several possibilities. Experts believe the new paneling, which contained insulation, helped the flames spread quickly up the outside of the public housing tower.

"My understanding is the cladding in question, this flammable cladding which is banned in Europe and the U.S., is also banned here," Hammond said. "So there are two separate questions. One, are our regulations correct, do they permit the right kind of materials and ban the wrong kind of materials? The second question is were they correctly complied with? That will be a subject that the inquiry will look at. It will also be a subject that the criminal investigation will be looking at."



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Trade Minister Greg Hands said Sunday that the government is carrying out an “urgent inspection” of the roughly 2,500 similar tower blocks across Britain to assess their safety, the Associated Press reported. And an opposition lawmaker urged the government to quickly secure documents in the Grenfell Tower renovation for the criminal investigation.

May, already facing political problems after losing her party's majority in Parliament, was heckled when she visited the site Thursday and was criticized for taking too long to meet with survivors, the AP reported.

Frustration has been mounting in recent days as information about those still missing in the inferno has been scanty and efforts to find temporary housing for the hundreds of now-homeless residents have faltered.

May later announced that the public inquiry looking into the tragedy will report directly to her, the AP said. She also said she will receive daily reports from the stricken neighborhood.