The death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire in west London  has risen to 17.

"We do believe that number will sadly increase",  Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Many people are still missing and firefighters are facing hazardous conditions as they search the charred building.

Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade Dany Cotton said sniffer dogs are being used to search for victims but the process could take "weeks".

Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower this morning 32 hours after fire engulfed the building in the early hours of yesterday and turned it into a huge flaming torch in minutes.

The London Fire Brigade said a ruptured gas main in the block had to be isolated before fire crews were able to put the blaze out and bring it under control by 1.14am - more than 24 hours after the alarm was raised.

A 40-metre aerial appliance was brought in from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service to help with this.

The number of people who are unaccounted for is still unknown as some may have got out by themselves or gone into other flats.

A remote fighting platform with hoses and cameras is moved into place near Grenfell Tower.

Questions have been raised about recently-installed cladding contributed to the quick spread of the fire.

The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee launched an inquiry after a blaze tore through a 14-storey block of flats in Irvine, Ayrshire, in June 1999, killing an elderly man.

It concluded that cladding should be non-combustible or not pose an unacceptable level of risk to tenants.

Residents who escaped the fatal Grenfell Tower fire spoke of the cladding going "up like a matchstick", while TV architect George Clarke said: "There's a new cladding system put on the outsides (of the block of flats) that looks like a new skin. There's an air gap, an insulation behind that; to me that looks like a fantastic chimney for the fire to rage around."

London Fire Brigade said the cause of Tuesday night's fire in north Kensington is not yet known.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: "There will be an investigation but at this stage I do not want to speculate about the cause of the fire or what has caused it to spread in the way that it did."