The New Year firework display, one of Dubai’s most celebrated annual rites, went on as planned at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
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Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk he said: “It looked like it started right at the base, which is the 20th floor, which is a terraced area and then it just shot up the building”.
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Mackenzie Porter, originally from Medicine Hat but now lives in Nashville, was with her family shopping in a mall connected to the hotel just hours before the fire broke out.
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During that same period more than 15,000 Palestinians and 350 Israelis were wounded, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Police said the motive for the attack remained unclear, and little was known about the attacker who had his face covered.
Fire spread to the 40th floor from outside the hotel.
Dubai’s government media office issued a civil defence statement on Friday saying the process of cooling the hotel down was “ongoing”.
Fourteen people suffered minor injuries as the upscale hotel was evacuated late on Thursday, officials said.
A businessman waits to cross Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard with The Address Hotel in the background.
Authorities are still trying to pinpoint the fire’s cause.
Dubai’s police chief said all the residents of the five-star hotel had been evacuated from the scene of the blaze, the cause of which was unknown and which had still not been extinguished some four hours after it broke out.
A Northern Ireland man has told how a last-minute change of plan saved him from being caught up in Dubai’s towering inferno.
Around one million people had been expected to gather around the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to watch the fireworks.
Standing nearby, Stuart O’Donnell, a British intensive care nurse who works in Dubai, said he was anxious for those inside the building as it was in a prime location to watch the fireworks display.
“Dubai’s successful New Year’s celebration is testimony to its steadfast commitment to its major projects and initiatives”, the city government said on Twitter.
Jaqueline Hurtado, a CNN en Español correspondent, reported she was at a restaurant in the area when she heard an explosion, “like a loud pop”, and thought the fireworks display may have started early.
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