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Fire engulfs Dubai hotel ahead of New Year celebrations | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A huge fire has engulfed a 63-storey hotel in central Dubai ahead of a New Year's Eve firework display. | |
Despite the blaze at the Address hotel, the display at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, started as planned at midnight. | |
Officials say the fire has been brought under control and 16 people suffered mostly minor injures. | |
It is unclear what caused the blaze, which broke out as large crowds had gathered to ring in the new year. | |
People were asked to leave the area around the Address hotel, which was evacuated. | |
Flames appeared to rapidly engulf much of the building, a five-star hotel and apartment complex with more than 60 storeys, within 10 minutes, having broken out at about 21:30 local time (17:30 GMT) on New Year's Eve. | |
The Dubai government tweeted that 14 people had suffered minor injuries, one moderate injuries and one "heart attack case" due to "overcrowding and smoke at the fire site". | |
The fire had started on the 20th floor, officials said, and had not spread inside the building, they claimed. | |
Irish singer Anita Williams, who was performing at the hotel when the fire began, told the BBC that people left in a "stampede". | |
"We left everything. There was debris falling down. It [the fire] just shot up through the entire hotel. | |
"Everybody was screaming, everybody was running... I thought: 'This is a film'." | |
The BBC World Service Middle East editor, Sebastian Usher, says the display is a huge prestige event for Dubai, and authorities want the images that people look back on next year to be of the fireworks - and not of the blaze. | The BBC World Service Middle East editor, Sebastian Usher, says the display is a huge prestige event for Dubai, and authorities want the images that people look back on next year to be of the fireworks - and not of the blaze. |
Tom Stroud, from London, who is staying near to the hotel, said: "It happened so quickly. There was smoke billowing everywhere and people running away." | |
A tourist, Michelle Duque told the BBC: "All of a sudden we saw this huge black plume of black smoke coming between the Khalifa Tower and the hotel. | A tourist, Michelle Duque told the BBC: "All of a sudden we saw this huge black plume of black smoke coming between the Khalifa Tower and the hotel. |
"The flames burst out really big and before we knew it the whole of the Address Hotel was covered in orange flames." | "The flames burst out really big and before we knew it the whole of the Address Hotel was covered in orange flames." |
Are you in Dubai? Are you affected? If you have any information to share with the BBC, you can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. | Are you in Dubai? Are you affected? If you have any information to share with the BBC, you can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. |
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: | Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: |
Or use the form below | Or use the form below |