An early Monday morning fire broke out at a 35-storey tower just near Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
Videos circulating online show flames racing up the Emaar skyscraper at the Boulevard Walk Tower in Downtown Dubai. The building sustained extensive fire damage on the facade panning through all floors.
There have been no reports of injuries or casualties caused by the fire. Sources said all residents are safe and hope to return to their homes as soon as possible. Witnesses said the fire started around 2.20a.m.
A Bindu Rai told the National News that his mother woke up when the fire started as her entire room was lit up. "My building faces Boulevard 8 and from what appeared to us, the cladding on the left side of the building was on fire from top to bottom. Fire had spread inside two apartments that were somewhere mid-way. For the rest of the building, it was limited to the exterior."
Another witness shared that the whole experience was very scary. "But to be fair to Emaar, they couldn't have looked after us better. They have given us incredibly nice rooms, we are being kept informed constantly on the situation with the tower and we have been told that some of us may even be able to go back early."
The skyscraper belongs to Emaar, the state-backed developer in the United Arab Emirates and the largest developer in the Arab world. The building is part of a series of towers called 8 Boulevard Walk. The Dubai police is looking into the fire incident.
A series of fire incidents in tall skyscrapers has come to plague Dubai in recent years. There was a large fire at Dubai's luxury Swissotel Al Murooj Hotel, opposite the Burj Khalifa, in April this year. The most notable was the 2015 incident, wherein a fire consumed the 63-storey building housing The Address Hotel in downtown Dubai on New Year's Eve.
