(Image source from: Fire engulfs Dubai’s Hotel on New Year’s eve})
A luxury hotel in Dubai nearby World’s tallest building Burj Khalifa ablaze during New Year celebration. ‘Address Downtown Dubai hotel’ was surrounded by Orange tentacles of flames soon after the fire began at around 9:30 pm.
Bruce Szczepanski, a visitor who watched from the balcony of a nearby hotel, said "There are huge flames, and you can hear the structure falling and the thuds." According to a report by CNN, the fire has begun on the 20th floor of the building.
Jaqueline Hurtado, a CNN en Español correspondent, was at a restaurant in the area when she heard an explosion, "like a loud pop." She said,"Then suddenly you saw people screaming and running." "The fire was just going so fast, It just started burning real quickly," she added.
Dubai government’s media office tweeted that, at least 16 people were injured in the fire.
Officials said that, The actual cause of the blaze is still not confirmed. The Dubai government will provide alternative accommodation to the evacuated guests.
As reported by the BBC, Anita Williams, Irish singer who was performing during the incident, said 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'."
A tourist, Michelle Duque, said "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."
- Nandini
