Half-year memorial held for Grenfell tower fire victims

LONDON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A grand memorial service was held Thursday at St. Paul's Cathedral in London for the victims of the Grenfell tower fire that claimed 71 lives on June 14.

Survivors, families of the bereaved and rescue workers were attending the memorial which was held to give thanks to people who assisted on the ground at the time of the tragedy and since it, including the emergency services, the recovery team, the community, public support workers and volunteers.

Bishop of Kensington Graham Tomlin said he hoped the tragedy would represent a "time we learnt a new, better way".

British Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as well as royal members, including the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, also attended the service.

Tiago Alves, a survivor, told BBC that the memorial is "quite emotional" and would bring back a lot of awful memories for many people. But "the reason we are doing this today is so that people never forget - we want people to remember."

Six months after the tragedy, many survivors are still living in emergency accommodation, mostly hotels.

According to latest figures, of the 210 households from the tower, 45 are in new permanent homes and 54 in temporary homes. 66 households have not yet accepted offers and remain in emergency accommodation. The rest have accepted offers of permanent or temporary homes but have not yet moved. Enditem