There is no official casualties in the massive fire in Dubai, UAE, that engulfied one of the tallest residential buildings in the world – a fact that has been termed as 'miracle' by members of the social media considering the magnitude of the incident.
Dubai Police Chief Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina said that there wasn't any criminal suspicion on the building fire, reports Gulf News.
The massive fire engulfed the "Marina Torch" skyscraper in Dubai, which is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world.The huge inferno forced hundreds of people to flee the 336-meter-high tower located in the marina district.
"There was debris flying everywhere, falling into neighbouring buildings," one eyewitness told the BBC. It took firefighters over two hours to bring the fire under control, reports have suggested.
Photos and videos emerging from the scene suggested the fire initially started somewhere in the middle of the building but rapidly spread across at least 15 floors. Strong gusts of winds helped spread the fire.
حريق قوي الآن في احد الأبراج السكنية بـ #المارينا بـ #دبي يحرق حوالي ٢٠ طابق .. يا رب لطفك pic.twitter.com/Akjlze77M0
— عبدالرزاق سالم (@razaq_salem) February 20, 2015
Thousands of people from the building as well as the surrounding areas were evacuated as fire-fighters and police cordoned off the area.
Many people on social media said its a 'miracle' that no one was killed in the incident.
"Miracle there were no casualties as Fire Engulfs #Dubai's Torch Tower Skyscraper," said an invidual with the account @VJPMedia on Twitter.
"This fire in the #Torch in #Dubai must have been terrifying, seems everyone got out OK. #Miracle," said another person named Tony Franks. "'Miracle' as Massive Inferno Kills None; No 'Criminal Suspicion'"
With the rapid spread of the fire, chunks of the burning parts started falling down, witnesses have said. Firefighters were also seen extinguishing the debris in fire as well as molten glass that had fallen from the blazing building.
According to local news publications, many people from the building have suffered from smoke inhalation although police and medics present in the scene have not confirmed any fatalities or serious injuries as of early Saturday.
"In an hour-and-a-half the fire is almost out on about 60 floors, it looks like mostly the outer apartments that are damaged," eyewitness Rola told the BBC adding that the blaze likely started on the 50th floor. There were people on balconies all around the building even though it was 3am, the eye-witness said.
Another eyewitness said: "I saw four floors on fire, then 20, then 60. It was very windy, so that really didn't help the situation. We were very scared that the wind would spread the fire."