Colossal fire strikes heart of Dubai

A MASSIVE inferno lit up the desert skies above Dubai on New Year’s Eve as a raging fire engulfed part of a luxury hotel near the world’s tallest building.

One person had a heart attack as a result of the smoke, whilst 17 others were treated for injuries as firefighters struggled to get the blaze under control at the Address Downtown hotel in the city centre.

It took four hours for firemen to subdue the flames and they fought through an enormous fireworks display and to the cheers of tens of thousands of revellers out for the annual celebrations in the global luxury hotspot.

A residential address on the 20th floor was the site of the blaze which quickly spiralled out of control with a full evacuation of the premises to nearby streets and shopping centres.

The wider site is the scene of one of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve celebrations near the 830 metre high Burj Khalifa complex, seeing a record 479,651 fireworks shells released last year.