Firefighters will soon begin a painstaking, thorough search for more bodies in the shell of a London apartment block destroyed by fire on Wednesday.

Seventeen people had been confirmed dead by Thursday morning, but dozens of people were missing, including three families who lived in the upper floors of Grenfell Tower. Rescuers said they didn't expect to find any more survivors.

The search and rescue teams will use sniffer dogs and build internal shoring to stabilize the structure as they go. Firefighters have been to all 24 floors but have not been able to conduct a thorough search because of the building's fragility. The fire commissioner estimated that the search for bodies could take weeks.

The fire began at 12:54 am on Wednesday morning and was not fully brought under control for more than 24 hours. The fire spread quickly across the building's external cladding, but the cause of the fire and what allowed it to accelerate remain unknown.

More than 30 people are still being treated at hospitals, with 17 described as in critical condition.

The queen issued a statement offering her sympathy to those affected by the fire. "My thoughts and prayers are with those families who have lost loved ones in the Grenfell Tower fire and the many people who are still critically ill in hospital," she said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May visited an area near Grenfell Tower to meet emergency services workers.

The government was scheduled to make an official statement about the fire in Parliament on Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile criticism of the management of Grenfell Tower was growing. David Lammy, the member of Parliament for Tottenham, north London, who may have lost a family friend in the fire, called for arrests over the incident.

"This is the richest borough in our country treating its citizens in this way and we should call it what it is. It is corporate manslaughter. ... It is an outrage," he said.

"Those '70s buildings, many of them should be demolished. They have not got easy fire escapes. They have got no sprinklers. It is totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and that people lose their lives in this way."

The building was renovated in 2014 following complaints by residents of faulty wiring, poor ventilation and blocked fire exits.

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