Queen and Duke of Cambridge are confronted by distraught friend of missing family and Andrea Leadsom is challenged by angry residents

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The level of anger on the streets around the decimated Grenfell Tower has been rising as desperate people with missing loved ones plead for more help from the authorities.

The Queen and Duke of Cambridge were confronted by the screaming friend of a missing family as they left a makeshift relief facility at the Westway sports centre, while Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons and a former candidate for the Tory leadership, was challenged by angry west London residents.

But the frustration being vented at the government and council was paired with the moving efforts of the local community to mount a support operation for the bereaved and the displaced.

Among the devastated relatives outside Grenfell Tower was Sawsan Choucair, who was missing six members of her family who all lived on the 22nd floor.

At a tribute wall bearing thousands of written messages at Latymer community church, talking to as many reporters as she could, Choucair said she was devastated and was desperate for information from the authorities, which she said had been lacking if not non-existent.

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She was missing her mother, Sirria; her sister, Nadir; her brother-in-law, Bassem; and her nieces Mirena, 14, Fatima, 11, and Zienab, three.

Choucair lived in the tower on a lower floor but was at a friend’s home when the fire broke out. “I was panicking, shaking, when I found out,” she said.

“We don’t have any information. No one is giving us information. We all need people to inform us. We’re just hoping we get information. The only people helping are the media who are interviewing me. I’m not here to blame anyone; my main concern is my family.”

Choucair was remarkably composed for someone facing the worst possible scenario. “I still have some hope,” she said.

Posters of her missing loved ones were among 20 being plastered on the church and other key venues around the cordon – from the Notting Hill Methodist church to the Pig and Whistle pub and the bus stops and phone boxes in between.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince William pledged to ‘come back’ as he left the Westway sports centre. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Less than a quarter of a mile from the church, there were emotionally charged scenes as the Queen and Duke of Cambridge visited the Westway sports centre.

Stood beneath the rumbling Westway flyover, the pair spoke to firefighters and police officers who had responded to the inferno, and were met with a spontaneous round of applause from onlookers. But when the clapping died down, a distraught man beckoned them to come over.

“Please come here,” he implored. Clutching a missing poster for two children, Firdaws and Yahya, Rami Mohamed said he was a friend of their family.

The Queen climbed into a Range Rover as Prince William apologised and pledged to come back to the Westway centre, which is operating as a relief centre for displaced evacuees and family members of the missing.

Mohamed said he was frustrated that so many people had turned out for the monarch but he felt that his friends were being left behind.

The Queen and William spent about 30 minutes in the centre visiting people affected, the day after Theresa May chose not to visit the area over security concerns.

Earlier on Friday, Leadsom was heckled by residents when she arrived in the area.

One resident said: “Why has Sadiq Khan [the London mayor] and [Jeremy] Corbyn come down here, not with bodyguards and police, they have come down here and spoken to people and come down to level. Why is Theresa May coming here with a load of police walking around her, not meeting anyone, not meeting the families?”

Leadsom attempted to calm the residents. “I have come down here as leader of the House of Commons. I have had some discussions with residents today. It is devastating, absolutely devastating, and I do sense the anger, and I am completely sympathetic. I utterly understand it.”

The official death toll has risen to 30, and there are reportedly as many as 70 people unaccounted for since the blaze. Police fear some victims may never be identified.

The official toll has sparked anger and confusion within the local community, where people believe the true number of fatalities is considerably higher. The severity of the damage caused by the blaze has restricted the emergency services’ efforts to find and identify victims.

Among the appeal posters, one read: “Since a deadly fire broke out in their home in Latimer, no one has heard from 16-year-old Nurhuda El-Wahabi, 21-year-old Yasmin El-Wahabi and their family. They live on the 21st floor. Please spread this round and keep a look out for their family.”

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Another said: “Fathia Alsanonse MISSING. People still can’t get through to her. Please keep an eye out.”

One simply said: “Missing: Marjorie Vital,” with a picture of a woman in a white hat.

More than £31m has been raised to help people affected by the fire, and one local mosque alone has collected more than 60 tonnes of donations.

Production lines of volunteers emerged from the Notting Hill methodist church on Friday carrying hundreds of boxes from the church to a lorry parked outside, while at Latymer, a similar operation was under way.