Residents escape injury in Dubai Marina tower blaze
Firefighters tackled a blaze that spread to seven floors of a residential tower in Dubai Marina.
The fire at Marina Diamond 2, in the Sayorah Street area, started early yesterday.
Police closed roads around the tower and residents were taken to safety. No injuries were reported, Dubai Civil Defence said.
Firefighters from Marina station were joined by crews from Emirates Martyrs and Al Barsha stations. They brought the fire under control by 5.24am.
Dubai Civil Defence said the fire spread from the ninth floor to the 15th. Experts are investigating the cause.
Dubai Police’s Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Centre provided accommodation for residents whose apartments were damaged.
A video showed flames spreading on the upper floors of the mid-rise tower, which has about 260 apartments and is 60 metres high.
Adnan Shauqat, a father-ofthree who lives in the building, told The National: “At 3.30am we heard some shouting from downstairs. We woke up and came downstairs [and left the building]. “There was no fire alarm.” Emergency services workers handed out water and provisions to people still in their nightwear. A civil defence spokesman said the apparent failure of the fire alarm was “being investigated”.
Julia, from Russia, was renting an Airbnb apartment on the 11th floor. She was woken up by someone banging on the door.
“My husband and I were sleeping and we heard a lot of noise,” she told The National.
“We could smell the smoke when we went out into the corridor.
“It was very scary and we all were in a state of panic. We took the stairs down as fast as we could.”
Parakshit Shah, from India, lives on the fourth floor.
“I was deep asleep and woke up to the neighbour knocking on my door,” he said.
“There was no time to even think about what was going on.”
Residents of the undamaged apartments on lower floors were allowed to return shortly before 8am on Saturday.
The upper floors are damaged and waterlogged.
The building’s management company, Prime Association, has not made any statement.
Marina Diamond 2 is a 15-storey residential building built in 2005. It is part of a six-tower complex containing 1,300 apartments.
A series of fires in Dubai and Sharjah have led to government investigations by the government into the use of flammable cladding, which was banned for use in new buildings in 2017.