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| A fire engulfs The Address Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates December 31, 2015. © / Reuters |
Pictures emerge on Twitter showing The Address Downtown Dubai hotel engulfed in flames. The building that hosts the 5-star hotel is 302 meters tall and is located not far from the New Year's Eve fireworks display.Social media users have reported panic as people run away from the area around the building.The fire engulfed the hotel from the outside and has not spread inside, according to Dubai’s media office.It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which covered at least 20 stories of the building near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, AP reports. Burning debris rained down from the building as firetrucks raced to the scene."There are no injuries, thank God ... of course, it will not affect the celebration," Major General Rashed al-Matrushi, general director of the Dubai Civil Defence, told the Al Arabiya TV channel.
The hotel and residential compound has nearly 200 rooms and over 600 apartments.
Local media say that The Address has been evacuated, and people are being moved out of the Dubai Mall located nearby.
Currently, there are at least four firefighting brigades at the site to deal with the blaze and ensure the safety of the public, according to the Twitter account of the Dubai government’s media office.
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