London Grenfell Tower fire: 'How many children died?'

Grenfell Tower had recently been refurbished at a cost of $15.2 million, with work completed in May last year. Photo / AP

Anger is mounting over a litany of failings that led to the Grenfell Tower disaster, as fears grow that the death toll could soar to more than 100.

As Prime Minister Theresa May stands accused of failing to show "humanity" during a visit to the blaze site, emergency services were last night beginning a third day of picking through the west London block's charred remains in search of bodies.

Dozens of people remain unaccounted for since the blaze, which police fear was so devastating that some victims might never be identified.

Seventeen people are confirmed to have died - six of whom have been provisionally identified - but the figure is expected to rise significantly.

Teams were forced to leave the 24-storey building yesterday when the fire restarted, delaying further the efforts to reach upper floors - where many victims are thought to have been trapped.

A growing number of frantic families have been desperately appealing for news about missing loved ones. The streets around the high rise block in north Kensington have been plastered with posters begging for information about those who were in the building.

Dozens of residents have not been seen since the tragedy, many of them young families and children.

One appeal 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."

Another asked for information about "Amal and daughter", with a photo of a young woman with curly dark hair and a little girl.

A whole family were reported missing on one poster, which said: "The Choucair family is missing in the Grenfell Tower fire. They lived on the 22nd floor, in flat 193."

May was criticised for failing to meet survivors when she visited the scene of the blaze.

May met police and firefighters dealing with the aftermath of the disaster during a private visit to the west London site, but unlike Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, she was not seen to speak to families and residents.

Downing Street aides said that the purpose of May's visit was to get a briefing from emergency services and ensure that they had the resources they needed.

She later appeared on TV to announce a public inquiry into the fire and to promise that those left homeless would be rehoused nearby.

But former Cabinet minister Michael Portillo said the Prime Minister "didn't use her humanity".

Firefighters survey the damage to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower. Photo / AP

He told BBC's This Week: "She met in private with the emergency services, a good thing to do no doubt, but she should have been there with the residents, which is what Jeremy Corbyn was.

"She wanted an entirely controlled situation in which she didn't use her humanity.

"The Prime Minister would have been shouted at by the residents, but she should have been willing to take that."

Anger is rising among residents.

"Someone needs to be held accountable!" people shouted as London Mayor Sadiq Khan visited to pay his respects.

"How many children died? What are you going to do about it?" asked 7-year-old Kai Ramos. As the boy pressed, the Labour politician pledged to get answers.

As others shouted for legislation requiring that Britain's aging public high-rises be retrofitted with sprinkler systems and multiple stairwells - which were lacking at Grenfell Tower - Khan said he shared their frustration and called for a government inquiry into the blaze to publish its initial findings by the end of the northern summer.

"We can't afford to wait many years for those answers," he said.

Other senior politicians who visited the scene were asked to explain why a series of loopholes had left the inhabitants vulnerable, despite repeated warnings over the last 30 years.

A tenant group had complained for years about the risk of a fire in the building, owned by the local government in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The tower, which was built in 1974, was recently refurbished at a cost of 8.6 million ($15.2m), with work completed in May last year.

It emerged that there have been no updates to Britain's building fire safety regulations for more than a decade, even though a number of fires abroad suggested they are out of date.

London mayor Sadiq Khan was yelled at when he met residents yesterday. Photo / AP

Particular concerns have been raised about the cladding on the outside of buildings for a number of years, which experts say may have accelerated Thursday's fire, which consumed the building in just 15 minutes. It has since emerged that the United States had banned the type of cladding thought to have been used on Grenfell Tower.

Theresa May has ordered a public inquiry into the fire as she promised that all residents would be rehoused locally.

Corbyn called for the empty homes of wealthy people in Kensington to be seized for Grenfell Tower residents who have lost their homes.

He said that the London borough was a "tale of two cities", divided between a wealthy south and a poor north.

He suggested that "requisitioning" expensive vacant properties could help ensure that residents are housed locally.

"Kensington is a tale of two cities. The south part of Kensington is incredibly wealthy, it's the wealthiest part of the whole country.

"The ward where this fire took place is, I think, the poorest ward in the whole country and properties must be found - requisitioned if necessary - to make sure those residents do get rehoused locally.

"It can't be acceptable that in London we have luxury buildings and luxury flats left empty as land-banking for the future while the homeless and the poor look for somewhere to live. We have to address these issues."