Haunting footage shows hardworking officers going from floor-to-floor of the gutted 24-storey tower block
HAUNTING video taken inside Grenfell Tower shows the charred remains of the building as cops tell of the painstaking hunt for bodies.
The chilling footage shows hardworking emergency services officers going from floor-to-floor of the gutted 24-storey tower block.
The walls of the concrete stairwell where hundreds of residents made a frantic bid to escape as the inferno erupted have been turned black from the blaze.
It was the only exit for those living inside the North Kensington building and many desperate people jumped from windows to avoid being burnt alive.
The harrowing video has been released as cops reveal the painstaking work they are doing following the carnage to recover bodies.
Sergeant Alistair Hutchins said the Grenfell disaster is "probably the worst incident" he has ever dealt with as it emerged 80 people are still missing and presumed dead.
He told the BBC how officers are conducting a fingertip search of every flat on every floor of the charred tower block using small trowels and sieves to trawl through the ashes looking for grim indicators of victims.
The DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) coordinator said: "What we are doing here is the recovery operation; getting the deceased out of the flats, stairwells, or corridors and getting those bodies or remains to the mortuary so the identification process can start.
"To start with, we have looked at visible remains and recovering those visible remains.
"Once we carried out that function we used our police canines, search dogs, and come in and give us visible locations based on what they can smell and we deal with those areas where we can safely.
"Once we have done that, we then move on to next stage which is the longest stage of the operation and we are looking at a fingertip search of all flats of all floors. That will involve officers on their hands and knees using small trowels and shovels. They will be removing debris from those flats and using sieves.
"All the debris from that flat is than packaged and is kept to one side and is marked with the floor number and the flat number so we can identify those bags. Then once we have cleared that flat, we then move on to the next flat and the process is repeated again until we have cleared every single flat in this tower block."
Sergeant Hutchins explained how DVI officers are travelling up 23 flights of stairs every day wearing layers of heavy protective and respiratory equipment because of asbestos in the block.
But the team are still "extremely passionate" and believe in the "dignity of death" so are working tirelessly to recover bodies to their loved ones.
Speaking of the moment he arrived at Grenfell when the fire was still raging, he added: "Our task was incredibly difficult. No lights so we had to use head torches. Hoses everywhere.
"Fire equipment everywhere with firefighters still fighting fires up higher, smoke conditions, the heat, water pouring down the stairwells – if you imagine walking through a waterfall it will give you an idea, with the waterfall being hot - those are the conditions we were working through initially."
Investigators said 350 people should have been in the Kensington tower on the night of June 14 but 14 are believed to have been staying elsewhere.
Cops fear the number killed in the tragedy could rise and have renewed pleas for any tenants illegally subletting their flats to come forward – promising they will not face action.
So far 32 of the victims have been identified.
But detectives fear the identities of some of those killed will remain a mystery due to the ferocity of the 1,000C fire that devastated the 24-storey block.
The Grenfell Tower investigation is the biggest the Metropolitan Police has conducted outside of counter-terrorism.
