Grenfell Tower Fire: Church Service Marking 5th Anniversary Holds In Westminster Abbey

The names of the 72 people who perished in the United Kingdom’s worst residential fire since World War II were read out on Tuesday at a church service marking the fifth anniversary of the blaze.

Survivors and families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire gathered at Westminster Abbey for the first of a day of events to remember the tragedy.

The fire started in a faulty freezer and ripped through the 24-storey block in west London in an inferno that was visible across the British capital.

An official report blamed highly combustible cladding fixed to the exterior of the high-rise as the “principal reason” the fire spread.

But despite a costly ongoing public inquiry, the government has been accused of failing to implement urgent safety changes to prevent a similar tragedy.

Also on Tuesday, attendees observed a 72-second silence and laid flowers at the foot of the tower, which is still shrouded in tarpaulin.

Five years on, emotions remain raw about the treatment of survivors and the bereaved, some of whom are yet to be permanently rehoused.

The local Anglican Bishop of Kensington, Graham Tomlin, said in the years before the fire, Grenfell had become a “tinderbox” and a tragedy was inevitable.