Photos/Video: Huge fire rips through 86-storey skyscraper in Dubai
Firefighters
battled a blaze early Friday at the 84-story Torch tower near Dubai
Marina in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Media Office said.
Just
after 3:30 a.m. Dubai Civil Defense said the fire was out after burning
for about two hours. Officials said the building was being cooled.
Video posted to social media showed a line of fire up one side of the building and falling, flaming debris.
Witness Samer Fathallah told CNN he
thought the fire had engulfed 30 to 40 residences. Two cars in the
parking deck were set on fire by falling debris, he said.
Firefighters
fought the fire from inside the building, and the crowd gathered 500
meters away could see water shooting out of the affected units.
A
video posted to Instagram from a building across the street from the
Torch shows fire trucks arriving and debris covering the street. The
flames in the video appear to shoot out of parts of the buildings on the
middle floors.
Tragedy strikes again
The
fire engulfed several floors on at least three sides of the iconic
building. There were no deaths or injuries, and the fire was
extinguished three hours after it began, the Civil Defense Office said.
The
fire broke out in the early hours of the morning, when many people were
out and enjoying the nightlife in unseasonably warm temperatures.
Hundreds of people, many of whom were evacuated residents, were in the street while crews worked on the scene.
The cause of the 2015 fire is unknown.
The
Torch was the world's tallest residential tower when it was completed
in 2011, according to the building's developer, Select Group. It
contains 682 residential units with 24-hour security and concierge, and
six retail spaces. It has 84 floors, the developer's website says.
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