LONDON (AFP) — Residents raised questions Saturday about the safety of a high-rise public housing block in London hit by a fire which killed six people including a newborn baby, as police launched an investigation.
The 12-storey 1960s tower block in Camberwell, suffered a massive blaze Friday which is being treated by police as suspicious.
Those who died were three-week-old baby Michelle Udoaka and her 34-year-old mother Helen, two other children aged three and four and two women aged 26 and 31. Thirty people were rescued and 15 sent to hospital.
As officers warned that the probe into what happened could take weeks or months, residents -- many of whom are low-income families -- said they had been warning of danger for some time.
The building, operated by the local Southwark Council, only had a single central staircase and questions are now being raised about whether escape routes were adequate.
Carol Cooper, 38, said people living there had long called for it to be demolished amid safety concerns but were told it was of special architectural interest and could not be knocked down.
"(The emergency services) were here but it took too long for them to get in there and do something," she said. "I think that's because it's just like a maze in there."
Another woman, Jasmine, was in her flat Friday when smoke came in under the door and she had to flee with her three children.
"I have always said that these buildings should have come down. Now look what's happened. You can see how quickly the fire spread," she said.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said it was "suspicious" that the fire had spread so quickly from the fourth to the 11th floor, adding investigators would examine the possibility of arson.
"What we will also be trying to get to the bottom of is to what extent there were design failures in the block of flats," he told the BBC.
Harriet Harman, the local lawmaker who is also deputy leader of Britain's ruling Labour party, highlighted that there were many other blocks of a similar design in the area.
"There will have to be a thorough investigation into what caused this fire and whether the prevention was adequate," she said.
"Questions will have to be asked about what happens when a fire breaks out."
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