LONDON (AP) – All “visible human remains” have been recovered from London’s fire-gutted Grenfell Tower, but the “catastrophic” damage means months of grim work will be needed before the full death toll is known, British police said Wednesday.
Three weeks after a blaze tore through the high-rise apartment building, the Metropolitan Police force said 87 “recoveries” of human remains have been made, but may not be from 87 different people.
Police and forensic anthropologists plan to sift through 1.5 metric tons (17 tons) of debris on each of the building’s 24 floors in search of more human remains, Commander Stuart Cundy, who is overseeing the police response to the disaster, said.
The meticulous task will take “many months,” he said.
Police say 80 people are either dead or missing and presumed dead, but only 21 have been formally identified. Officers believe no one survived from 23 of the building’s 129 apartments.