Construction

Fire at Address hotel in Dubai put out

By Ben Flanagan

Posted on January 1, 2016

New Year’s Eve blaze extinguished on Friday afternoon

PHOTO: Smoke continued to rise from the high-rise hotel on Friday morning. Credit: Twitter

A major fire at the 63-storey Address Downtown Dubai hotel has been put out, officials confirmed.

The blaze, which reportedly originated on the 20th-floor exterior of the building, started just hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations on Thursday night.

It was finally extinguished on Friday afternoon, according to local media.

“General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior has supervised the operation to put out the fire that engulfed The Address Downtown Hotel,” UAE state news agency WAM reported.

Hotel guests and visitors were successfully evacuated “in record time” with no loss of life, the WAM report added.

The Dubai Media Office said there were 14 minor injuries, one moderate, and one person who had suffered a heart attack.

Sheikh Saif “praised the act of heroism of civil defence, ambulance service and Dubai Police”, WAM noted.

The cause of the fire has not been established but authorities in Dubai are investigating, according to the BBC.

News of the fire dominated global headlines during the countdown to 2016.

The hotel is close to the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, which is the centre of Dubai’s annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The fireworks display went ahead despite the ongoing blaze nearby.