May orders inquiry into London tower blaze as death toll rises

London

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said there will be a "full public inquiry" into a fire at a tower block in west London that killed at least 17 people, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond cancelled a keynote speech on the economy as a result of the blaze.

"When I visited the scene, when I spoke to the emergency services, they told me that the way this fire progressed, how it took hold of this building, was rapid, it was ferocious and it was unexpected," Mrs May said in a pooled TV interview.