Hundreds evacuated as 79-floor Torch Tower in Dubai set ablaze

Hundreds of residents had to flee as a fire ripped through a 79-storey skyscraper in Dubai early on Saturday.

The blaze caused extensive damage to the mainly luxury flats in the building, known as the Torch Tower, and forced people from neighbouring blocks  also to be evacuated.

Amateur footage posted online showed fire engulfing the upper floors of the tower - home to hundreds of expatriates - with debris falling onto the road as strong winds fanned the flames. The area is known to be popular with expats and is a key tourist destination.

Resident Mehdi Ansari told AFP that the fire alarm sounded after 2 am (22:00 GMT).

"I saw there was fire and pieces of the building falling down, so I immediately took my wife and our baby. We took some important items and went down," he said.

"When we went to the staircase, it was full of smoke. Later the staircase got busier and smokier, the lights went off and some people panicked."

Civil defence teams cleared the building, which at 336 metres is one of the world's tallest residential towers.

Dubai police said there were no fatalities but 10 people, including a pregnant woman, were treated for smoke inhalation.

Some residents complained that the fire alarms were slow to sound, and an unnamed resident told Gulf News that they called emergency services and began alerting neighbours before the fire alarm went off.

Ahmed al-Atawi, a 36-year-old Egyptian tenant, also told Gulf News that many residents were initially slow to respond to the alarm.

"We usually have all these false alarms, so when I heard this one I thought I'll just carry on sleeping, it's probably nothing," he said.

However, security guards soon swept the building to make sure all residents were evacuated, he added.

Major General Rashid Thani al-Matroushi, director of Dubai civil defence, said they believed the fire was accidental although  the Dubai Police is investigating the case.  

Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours before hundreds of residents of nearby towers were allowed to return to their apartments. No damage appears to have been caused to the neighbouring towers.

Dubai, known for its skyline of hugely varied skyscrapers, has seen fires at towers in the past.

In 2012, a blaze gutted the 34-storey Tamweel Tower in the nearby Jumeirah Lake Towers district. It was later revealed to have been caused by a cigarette butt thrown into a bin.

Also on Saturday, local media reported that 10 foreign labourers had perished in a fire that destroyed a makeshift hostel above a tyre shop.

Eight others were injured in the blaze that gutted the two-storey building in the Mussaffah district on Friday, Gulf News daily reported, saying that the unlicensed accommodation above the shop was originally a storage area.