87 discoveries of human remains found in gutted block of flats

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday its investigators had made 87 "recoveries", but was quick to stress this did not mean they had found 87 people due to the "catastrophic damage" inside the block. Commander Stuart Cundy said: "Until formal identification has been completed to the coroner's satisfaction I cannot say how many people have now been recovered."

The last visible human remains were extracted on Monday, and 21 people have been formally identified by the coroner and their families.

Some 250 specialists are combing through the wrecked tower by hand, Mr Cundy added, and they will sort through more than 15 tonnes of debris per floor. He added: "This will take us many months, but we will search each and every flat. "We will use all the information we have, especially what we have been told by survivors and families, to prioritise our search where we believe we may find more human remains.

"We are absolutely determined to do all we can as quickly as we can to return all those who are in Grenfell Tower to their loved ones.

"However, as I've said before such is the devastation caused by the fire it may be that tragically we cannot find or identify all those who lost their lives."On Monday, we forensically recovered the last of the visible human remains from Grenfell Tower and transferred them to Westminster Mortuary."