Panic in Dubai as revellers flee New Year’s Eve party after massive fire rips though 63-storey hotel close to city’s big firework display
.The Address Downtown is currently on fire in the Middle Eastern city
.The flames appear to run up at least 40 storeys of the exclusive hotel
.The hotel is just across a lake from the Burj Khalifa, world’s tallest building
.Officials have said the Burj Khalifa fireworks’ display is still taking place
New Year’s revellers were sent running for their lives after a fire engulfed a five-star hotel just moments from where Dubai’s spectacular fireworks display was due to begin.
The Address Downtown caught fire at about 9.30pm Dubai time, with the flames appearing to reach from the ground floor up another 40-or-so storeys of the 63 floor building.
A medic has revealed that at least 60 people were hurt, with officials saying one person suffered a heart attack.
The hotel would likely have been packed with people waiting in their rooms for the best view of the fireworks display at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, which sits just across the lake from The Address.
Those waiting below found themselves in danger of being struck by burning debris falling from the building.
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Fire engines struggled to get through the crowds to the fire, which started on a terrace on the 20th floor, according to reports.
Police had already cordoned off roads in the area in expectation of a million people attending the vent.
Those who had arrived early to grab the best spots were forced to flee the blaze, yet despite the panic, the authorities have said the display is still going ahead.
They have also said no one was hurt in the blaze at the 300 metre tall building, and everyone had been evacuated safely.
The fire was almost entirely out by 11pm Dubai time, authorities said.
However, at midnight the fire was still blazing.
‘There are no injuries, thank God … of course, it will not affect the celebration,’ Major General Rashed al-Matrushi, general director of the Dubai Civil Defence, told Al Arabiya.
Meanwhile, Ali Al Mutawa, of Dubai’s Civil Defence, told 7Days UAE: ‘We have controlled 65 per cent of the fire in the hotel and no casualties have been seen so far after evacuating the hotel.’
However, their statements were later amended.
The Dubai Media Office said 14 people had been lightly injured and that one suffered a heart attack due to the smoke and overcrowding during evacuation. The statement said another person was moderately injured, without elaborating further. No children were among those injured.
But a medic on the scene who declined to be identified told Reuters: ‘There are more than 60 people injured with light injuries from smoke inhalation and from crowding while in the stairs evacuating the building.’
The fire began at about 9.30pm, and is said to have taken hold of the outside of the building within minutes.
Tom Stroud, 35, an eyewitness who is on holiday in Dubai, said: ‘There was no bang or bomb-like sound, we just looked over and saw an inferno.
‘It gathered speed extremely quickly.’
Atieh S (@AtiehS), who watched from a nearby building, said the fire took hold in just five minutes.
She tweeted: ‘People are running away! This is so horrific!!!!! Falling on people’s houses.’
Mohammed Al Sarraf, told The National the fire was ‘raging’.
‘It’s gotten so much bigger in five minutes. It’s gone from just a small fire at the foot of the building and now it’s shooting up the middle and the top.’
The city is planning on three spectacular displays, beginning at the Burj Khalifa, which organisers said was fitted with 400,000 LED lights. They said 1.6 tons of fireworks would be used in the display.
The Downtown is just across a lake from the Burj Khalifa, facing each other.
It also towers over the Souq Al Bahar, a popular shopping area with walkways that connect the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall.
Many people will have been in their rooms, ready and waiting for the spectacular display to begin.
From there, the fireworks were to light up the sky around the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and later down near the Dubai Marina.
Fireworks also will be on display in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the country of seven emirates.
It is the second blaze at a Dubai skyscraper this year, after the Marina Torch tower was engulfed in flames in the early hours of February 21.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from one of the world’s tallest residential buildings, as a large blaze ripped through multiple floors of the tower.
After firefighters extinguished the blaze, residents could see the external cladding on the corners of the building was charred black and mangled for dozens of floors.
Nobody was killed, but seven people were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
Debris flies off Dubai building as massive fire rips through
Debris can be seen flying off a luxury hotel and apartment building in Dubai as a major fire rips through just before a fireworks display was meant to start
https://youtu.be/Qi31zPbvcLk
