伦敦西部公寓大火：数人死亡 50多人受伤
伦敦西部24层高的格伦费尔大厦被大火吞没，50多人被送往就医。
More than 50 people have been hospitalized after a massive fire engulfed Grenfell Tower, a 24-story apartment block in west London, according to emergency services.
"We have now taken over 50 patients to five hospitals across London following the incident at Grenfell Tower," London Ambulance Service's assistant director of operations, Stuart Crichton, said in a statement on Twitter.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said there had been "a number of fatalities," but because of the size and complexity of the building, the exact number cannot be determined yet.
"This is an unprecedented incident," she said. "In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale."
Ambulances are stationed near the fire scene in London./VCG Photo
The fire, which reportedly started at 1:16 a.m. local time (0016GMT) on Wednesday, began on the second floor, according to the London Fire Brigade.
The blaze escalated quickly, a witness told the BBC. Soon the whole bulding was engulfed in flames with people screaming for help and throwing children out of windows.
Huge fire engulfs the building as firefighters battle the blaze on Wednesday morning./VCG Photo
At least 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters have been dispatched to tackle the blaze. Police have formed cordons around the building and around 30 adjacent flats have been evacuated.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said on Twitter that "major incident" status had been declared.
The Grenfell Tower, built in 1974, contains 120 homes, according to Kensington and Chelsea Council. The Local Grenfell Action Group said the building had been a fire risk and access to the site may have been "severely restricted," according to the BBC.
A man living on the 17th floor told local media that there was no fire alarm in the building and that residents had long been concerned about the building's safety.
The cause of the fire is still not known.
How to escape a fire in a high-rise building
· Heed the alarm. If the fire alarm sounds, do not assume it's a test or a false alarm and do not wait to see what happens.
· Protect yourself from smoke. Smoke is toxic and many caught in fires die from smoke inhalation.
· Never use the elevator. Always take the stairs to exit as elevators may malfunction during a fire.
