Six people have died in a fire at the 27-storey Grenfell Tower West London

Flames tore through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington overnight, leaving people trapped on upper floors - some holding babies out of windows and others jumping from their flats.

Some bodies have been removed from the smouldering remains of the building, which contains 120 flats thought to be home to between 400 and 600 people.

Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police said: "Sadly I can confirm that there are now 12 people that have died that we know of.

"This is going to be a long and complex recovery operation and I do anticipate that the number of fatalities will sadly increase beyond those 12."

Fire crews are continuing to tackle "pockets of fire" in the building with many people still unaccounted for.

Flames tore up the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, leaving people trapped on upper floors, some holding babies from windows and others jumping from their flats.

Some 74 people were taken to six hospitals across London, while 34 patients are still receiving treatment, and 18 people are in critical care, NHS England has said.

Mr Cundy said it is likely to be some time before police can identify the victims, adding that it is too early to speculate on the cause of the fire.

Prime Minister Theresa May was said to be "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life" and newly appointed police and fire minister Nick Hurd will chair a meeting of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat to co-ordinate the response.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters: "This is an unprecedented incident. In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale.

"Unfortunately, a number of firefighters have been injured but fortunately only with minor injuries, which, considering the scale and the number of my firefighters have been involved and how hard they have worked, is a testament to their professionalism and dedication," she said.

Grenfell Tower was built in 1974 and contains 120 flats thought to be home to between 400 and 600 people.

The building was refurbished recently at a cost of £8.6 million, with work completed in May last year.

Rydon, the firm that carried it out, said its work "met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards".

London Fire Brigade said the cause of the fire is still being investigated, but several residents reported one man had said it started in his faulty fridge.

The brigade said a structural engineer had checked the building and determined it was not in danger of collapse and that rescue teams were safe to be inside.

Many traumatic accounts of the fire and its impact have emerged, including a baby being dropped from the tower.

Samira Lamrani said she saw a woman try to save the baby by dropping it from a window ''on the ninth or 10th floor'' to waiting members of the public below.

Residents who escaped complained there had been no fire alarm, with many relying on neighbours to wake them as the blaze spread.

They said official advice in the event of a fire had been to stay inside.

Michael Paramasivan, who was in his seventh floor flat with girlfriend Hannah West, 23, and her daughter Thea, five, said: "If we'd listened to them and stayed in the flat we'd have perished."

A residents' action group said its warnings about safety had fallen on "deaf ears".

A blog post from Grenfell Action Group in November said "only a catastrophic event" would expose the concerns residents had.

The group said there was one entry and exit to the tower during improvement works and it had issues with evacuation procedures.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said: "There will be a great many questions over the coming days as to the cause of this tragedy and I want to reassure Londoners that we will get all the answers."

Witnesses said the fire spread rapidly up the building, with some suggesting it was fuelled by gas.

Mr Paramasivan, 37, told the Press Association: "There were explosions everywhere you looked, lots of bangs, blue gas coming out everywhere you looked.

"About 12 floors up I saw three children waving from a window and then there was just an explosion and they disappeared.

"They were three kids, they were banging on the windows, you could see their silhouettes and then bang, it just went up."

Muna Ali, 45, said: "The flames, I have never seen anything like it, it just reminded me of 9/11.

"The fire started on the upper floors ... oh my goodness, it spread so quickly, it had completely spread within half an hour."

Robert Black, chief executive of Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which manages Grenfell, said: "The fire at Grenfell Tower is devastating and the reports of injury and losses of life absolutely heartbreaking."