Deadly London tower blaze began in Hotpoint fridge freezer, police say

The Grenfell Tower fire in London started in a fridge freezer, and outside cladding failed safety tests, police say

Seventy-nine people are feared dead after the blaze destroyed 151 homes in the Kensington tower block
Seventy-nine people are feared dead after the blaze destroyed 151 homes in the Kensington tower block

A fire that killed at least 79 people at a London tower block started in a Hotpoint fridge freezer, and the outside cladding engulfed by the blaze has since been shown to fail all safety tests, London police said on Friday.

The government has ordered immediate testing of the Hotpoint fridge freezer which was involved.

"We now have expert evidence that the fire was not started deliberately," Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack told reporters in London.

McCormack said that in view of the heavy death toll, police were considering manslaughter charges over the disaster.

Britain ordered an immediate technical examination of the Hotpoint fridge model, manufactured between 2006 and 2009, to establish whether further action needed to be taken, but said there was no need for owners to switch off their appliances.

Police said both the insulation and tiles used in cladding at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block failed all post-fire safety tests. Preliminary tests on the samples of insulation showed it burned soon after the test started, and more quickly than the cladding tiles.

"Preliminary tests show the insulation samples collected from Grenfell tower combusted soon after the test started," McCormack said.

Nine of those who died in the 14 June have been formally identified so far. Nine people remain in hospital, with three people still in critical care.