'London fire started with fridge, manslaughter charges could be filed'

The massive fire that ripped through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London last week started with a faulty fridge and manslaughter charges could be filed after the probe into the tragedy, the Scotland Yard said on Friday.

The cladding on the outside of the building as well as the insulation used in the tower block both failed safety checks, the Metropolitan Police said. The force will consider manslaughter charges on those involved as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into the tragedy that claimed at least 79 lives and displaced hundreds. "Preliminary tests show the insulation samples collected from Grenfell Tower combusted soon after the tests started.

The initial tests on equivalent aluminium composite tiles failed also," said Met Police Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, who is overseeing the investigation. She said the insulation proved "more flammable than the cladding" and investigators will now seek to establish whether the use of any of these materials was illegal in the UK.