Ajman fire: Massive blaze engulfs skyscrapers
Firefighters tackle huge fire engulfing two towers of residential high-rise buildings.
Firefighters brought under control a massive fire that broke out in a skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates, its civil defence said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of blazes in the country’s high-rise buildings.
The huge fire engulfed at least two towers of residential buildings in the UAE city of Ajman, causing panic among residents on Monday night.
Local media said that five people were treated on the spot for injuries.
“Civil defence teams have brought the residential tower fire under control and they are still at the scene conducting cooling off operations,” it said in a message on its Twitter account.
A video posted online by police showed burning debris falling from the building.
“Everyone was running around in panic. The fire initially started off on one side of the building and slowly spread out to the building beside it,” Akbar Qazi, a resident at the site, told Al Jazeera.
The fire erupted at a building in the Ajman One residential cluster of 12 towers and spread to at least one other tower.
Social media users shared images of the fire showing bright yellow flames spreading up the side of the buildings.
Traffic on roads leading to the area had come to a virtual halt, according to local media.
#Ajman fire: "We are all very distraught. We have lost everything," a #Pakistani resident https://t.co/xiLwiHgWEv pic.twitter.com/V7UtoU6X2V
— Gulf News (@gulf_news) March 28, 2016
Skyscraper fires
Monday’s fire is the latest in a series of skyscraper blazes in the Gulf country.
In December 31, 2015, just hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations, a massive fire engulfed a five-star hotel in Dubai.
READ MORE: Dubai probes New Year’s Eve hotel blaze
The huge blaze quickly shot up the 63-storey Address Hotel in the heart of the Gulf metropolis, covering nearly the entire structure and sending hundreds of people fleeing for safety.
Several people sustained injuries from the fire, and at least one person suffered a heart attack. Police have said that there were no deaths.
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| Huge fire engulfs Dubai skyscraper on New Year’s Eve |