Social media posts show flames climbing Torch Tower in Dubai as burning debris falls down early Friday morning
A large fire ripped through a residential skyscraper in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, engulfing the tower in flames.
Social media posts showed flames spreading up the Torch Tower as burning debris fell down early Friday morning.
BBC News reports the building was «successfully evacuated.» Authorities say they have brought the fire under control.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze. At more than 80 stories, the tower is one of the world’s tallest residential structures.
Authorities have tweeted there have been no injuries so far:
The Associated Press writes that one of its reporters was near the scene and said more than 40 floors of the high-rise tower appeared to be on fire on one side of the building. The AP writes that residents of the building could be seen crying with several saying the fire broke just after 1 a.m.
Officials blocked off the area near the building, keeping people about a block away from danger.
The Torch was damaged by an earlier fire in 2015, BBC News adds. The AP mentions that an inferno broke out at a 63-story luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year’s Eve in 2016.
The neighborhood is home to dozens of towering apartment blocks and hotels, many of them built over the past decade. The apartments are popular with Dubai’s large number of expatriate professionals.
At least 80 people were killed in June when a destructive blaze ripped through a tower in London. That fatal fire prompted Britain to order a thorough test of the cladding systems of its towers.
