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May 20, 2008
Investigation continues into cause of fire at Dubai’s Al Salam Tecom Tower
DUBAI, UAE
A fire broke out in a tower near Dubai Marina last week, in what is the latest in a string of blazes to hit the UAE.
Abu Nasier, Head of Media Co-ordination at the Civil Defence, said the fire started on the 30th floor of Al Salam Tecom Tower, a 47-storey building still under construction and located along Sheikh Zayed Road, behind the BBC World Building in Dubai Media City.
Nasier could not provide information as to the actual cause of the incident, pending an official investigation. A spokesperson for Tecom said that no casualties have been reported.
The Al Salam building is 195 metres tall. Construction of the mixed-use tower was due to be completed this year.
Witnesses report seeing smoke billowing from the building but no flames. The area was cordoned off and emergency vehicles and helicopters were present.
Brigadier General Rashid Thani Rashid Al Matrooshi, director general of Dubai Civil Defence, said that the cause of fire was still under investigation.
“We’ll investigate whether all safety measures were in place at the building,” Matrooshi told UAE daily newspaper Khaleej Times.
Labourers involved in the tower’s construction were mostly out of the building for lunch when the fire began.
“Initially we feared some of our colleagues might have been trapped inside.
“When we saw thick black smoke billowing out of the building we started panicking,” said Jawahar Alam, a worker, told Khaleej Times.
One worker said he was sleeping on the 24th floor of the building when the fire broke out.
“It was one of the scariest moments of my life,” said Rasool Al Salam.
“I rushed down and ran out of the building.”
DCN News Services
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