'Decades of failure turned Grenfell into a death trap'
A damning report on a deadly London high-rise fire in 2017 on Wednesday said decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a “death trap” where 72 people lost their lives. The public inquiry into the blaze, the deadliest fire on British soil since World War II, concluded there was no “single cause” of the tragedy. It said residents were let down by dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government. “We conclude that the fire at Grenfell Tower was the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them,” said the inquiry. It added “many failings of a wide range of institutions, entities and individuals” led to the fire. The report, marking the end of a long-running two-part inquiry, also accused firms that supplied the cladding and other materials for the residential high-rise of "systematic dishonesty". Inquiry chairperson Martin Moore-Bick, a retired judge, delivered the findings from a six-year investigation that examined how building flaws, lax enforcement of safety standards and mistakes by emergency responders contributed to the shocking death toll in the Grenfell Tower blaze. (Agencies)