Police have made 87 recoveries of human remains from Grenfell Tower

Police investigating the Grenfell Tower fire have recovered the ‘last of the visible human remains’ from the gutted high-rise.

Three weeks after the blaze ripped through the building in North Kensington, London, the Metropolitan Police say they made ’87 recoveries’ of human remains.

However, the force stressed that does not mean the remains are those of 87 different people.

Commander Stuart Cundy, who is overseeing the Met’s response to the fire, said: ‘In total we have made 87 recoveries, but I must stress that the catastrophic damage inside Grenfell Tower means that is not 87 people.

‘Until formal identification has been completed to the Coroner’s satisfaction I cannot say how many people have now been recovered.’

He said that 21 people who died in the fire have been formally identified by the Coroner and their families informed.

He estimated that the search and recovery operation inside the tower will not be complete until the end of this year.

Specialist officers have begun ‘meticulously’ sifting through about 15.5 tonnes of debris on each floor by hand for any human remains still within the tower, he said.

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Of the operation, one of the largest and most complex in the Met’s history, Mr Cundy said: ‘Tragically, there are still 23 flats where despite our investigative efforts we have been unable to trace or speak to anyone who was in those properties on the night.

‘We assume that sadly no-one from any of those flats survived.’

He said he did not want there to be any ‘hidden victims’ but was unable to say ‘with any certainty’ how many people may have been in those flats, either as occupiers or visitors, until the search was complete.

It comes as most survivors displaced from Grenfell Tower and Walk are still living in hotels three weeks after the deadly blaze as the Government attempts to find them suitable accommodation.

Fourteen households hoping to be moved out of emergency accommodation have accepted offers for permanent or temporary living arrangements, Grenfell Response Team (GRT) said.

It also emerged a specialist taskforce will be sent in to Kensington and Chelsea Council to take over the running of key services, following heavy criticism of its response to the disaster.

Campaigners and residents claim little headway has been made, with residents said to have been offered properties that are either out of the borough, too expensive or on a one-year contract.

Some 139 offers had been made following 158 housing needs assessments by Wednesday, the three-week deadline the government set itself for offering housing to all of those displaced by the blaze.

GRT said every household that wanted to move from emergency accommodation had been made offers in Kensington and Chelsea or neighbouring boroughs, while 19 families were contacted and had either refused assistance or were abroad.

This was for a range of reasons, including some relatives who were looking after loved ones in hospital, and the response team was ‘ready to provide them with accommodation when they were ready’.