Good Morning Britain criticised for showing ‘distressing’ footage of people trapped in London tower block fire

Live footage of an elderly man trapped on the 11th floor was deemed “shameful”
Devastating: Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain
Ken McKay/ITV/Rex
Emma Powell14 June 2017

Good Morning Britain has been branded “insensitive” for its “shameful” coverage of the West London tower block fire.

The breakfast show, fronted by Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan, aired live footage of an elderly man trapped on the 11th floor as he awaited help after a blaze ripped through Grenfell Tower in the early hours of Wednesday.

The 70-year-old man who is partially blind, could be seen waving a white rag in a desperate attempt to reach out to the emergency services.

Many viewers found the footage to be too “distressing” and criticised the show for airing it.

One viewer tweeted: “#GMB Need to stop parading this old man pleading for his life on the 11th floor like it's some entertainment. #SMH #GrenfellTower.”

Another posted: “GMB how inconsiderate showing live pictures of residents at windows, show some compassion to their families who could be watching worrying (sic).”

Others begged for Morgan and Reid to keep them updated on the man as the story continued to unfold.

ITV pulled Lorraine and Jeremy Kyle from the airwaves to allow for extended coverage of the “major incident”.

Evacuation from Notting Hill Grenfell Tower Fire - In pictures

1/21

Residents were trapped “screaming for their lives” as flames tore through the 27-storey building, while there were unconfirmed reports on social media of people using bedsheets as makeshift ropes while others were reportedly seen jumping for their lives.

More than 50 patients have been taken to five different hospitals, with the London Fire Brigade confirming there have also been a number of fatalities.

Several celebrities including Lily Allen and Emma Freud have offered “beds” and a “roof” to the hundreds of people left homeless.

A JustGiving page set up to help those affected has raised over £22,000.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in