Witnesses recall moment fire engulfed luxury Dubai hotel

The 63-story hotel-and-condominium is located near the world’s tallest skyscraper – the Burj Khalifa – where tens of thousands gathered for a New Year’s fireworks display.

Fire engulfed a 63-storey skyscraper in downtown Dubai near the world’s tallest building on Thursday night, but the block was successfully evacuated and there were only light injuries, the emirate’s police chief said.

Fourteen people suffered minor injuries, and one person experienced a heart attack during the evacuation, according to the Twitter account of the government of Dubai’s media office.

It said the blaze had started on the 20th floor, on the outside of the tower, and that internal fire-fighting systems were operating to try to prevent it getting inside the hotel.

It published several videos on its Twitter feed of fireworks erupting around the iconic Burj Khalifa and said the New Year’s celebration was a testimony to Dubai’s “steadfast commitment to its major projects and initiatives”.

But challenges remain as Dubai has faced a series of recent tower fires. In February, a similar blaze spread along the external cladding of Dubai’s 86-story Torch tower, one of the world’s tallest residential buildings.

Witnesses have been recalling the moment a massive fire broke out a luxury skyscraper in Dubai.

“I saw some debris floating down from the building”, he remembered.

As the Address hotel continued to burn fireworks lit up the sky around the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab.

A growing tourist destination, Dubai has become famed in recent years for its distinctive skyline and ambitious building projects, but has suffered from a number of spectacular fires.

Within minutes of learning about the fire, many Dubai residents began to tweet, offering beds to those evacuated from the hotel, using the hashtag #NeedAnAddress. Security officials have launched an investigation to determine the causes of the fire, the government said in a statement.

UPDATE: Fireworks at the Burj Khalifa tower went off at midnight as scheduled. Jaqueline Hurtado, a CNN en Español correspondent, said she was at a restaurant in the area when she heard an explosion, “like a loud pop”, and thought the fireworks display may have started early. “We were impressed with how easy we got out of there”.

Standing nearby, Stuart O’Donnell, a British intensive care nurse who works in Dubai, said he was anxious for those inside the building as it was in a prime location to watch the fireworks display.

“You feel sad for the people inside….”

Authorities said the fire appeared to have originated on a 20th floor terrace.

He and others in the crowd wondered what had started the blaze.

Hotel guest Angus Villiers said, “It was slightly worrying that the alarm went off essentially when the building was properly on fire”.