Browse content similar to 31/12/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
A major fire has broken out in hotel near a planned New Year's Eve | :00:00. | :00:12. | |
One eyewitness told the BBC that debris was flying everywhere, | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
An enormous clean-up operation is underway after Storm Frank | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
brought flooding misery to thousands of people. | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
The Labour MP Simon Danczuk has been suspended from the party | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
following allegations he sent explicit text messages | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
Also in the next hour, happy new year, as cities around | :00:32. | :00:40. | |
London prepares for a midnight fireworks display on the River | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament. | :00:45. | :00:45. | |
But planned celebrations in Brussels have been cancelled and police have | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
arrested six people in connection with an alleged plot to target | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
And veteran actress Barbara Windsor is made a dame | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
The EastEnders and Carry On star was recognised for services | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
You go "why me", and I just say thank you and I'll do my best to be | :01:04. | :01:13. | |
Good afternoon and welcome to BBC News. | :01:14. | :01:44. | |
A fire has broken out in a building near do by's massive New Year's Eve | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
fireworks display, just hours before the fireworks display is scheduled | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
to get under way. Nina Warhurst has been following the story. What do we | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
know? We found out about the fire in the last half-hour, the pictures | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
showing a fire that has spread over 20 or more stories of a hotel which | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
is called the Address Hotel in central divide, not far from the | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper. They were preparing for | :02:21. | :02:28. | |
the New Year's Eve fireworks, due to start in the next couple of hours. | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
We have seen a number of images saying that debris has been falling | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
all around and that emergency services are on hand in evacuating | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
the scene all around. There will be a major operation to make sure | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
people are kept safe on the street waiting for the firework display. At | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
the moment, we do not know what caused the fire and we have no news | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
of any casualties. Looking at the images, it is difficult to avoid | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
comparisons with other disasters involving skyscrapers. The fire | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
looks to have got set in various parts of the hotel, not just in one. | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
Yes, what strikes you is that it has spread across more than 20 stories. | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
If people are making links between the fireworks, saying that could | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
have something to do with it, that has not been confirmed by anybody at | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
the scene. But it is not a small fire and you can see that already it | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
has spread to different parts of the hotel. We know there has been a | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
major operation to evacuate people from the hotel and from around the | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
scene as debris continues to fall. Thank you for the moment. I want to | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
speak to someone who was outside the tower and saw what was going on. | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
That is right. When were you first aware there was a problem? We were | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
outside the Burj Khalifa hotel, waiting in line for the fireworks | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
display, myself and my son and daughter. Suddenly we saw a huge | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
black plume of smoke coming between the Burj Khalifa tower and the other | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
hotel. Within seconds, we saw an orange flame and then the flames | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
burst out really big. Before we knew it, the whole of the Address Hotel | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
was covered in orange flames, and the fire was really burning quick | :04:24. | :04:30. | |
and fast. It was horrible to see it. Especially knowing the hotel would | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
have been full for the New Year celebrations. We are talking about a | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
5-star hotel. How big? It is quite a big tower. I think it is a good 20 | :04:43. | :04:53. | |
stories, I believe. What about the rescue, the Fire Services? To be | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
honest, we heard sirens coming quite quick. I think they were under | :04:58. | :05:06. | |
control very, very quickly. But to be honest, the fire took hold so | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
fast it was quite amazing. It went so fast, the whole tower engulfed. | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
But as I say, the Fire Service and security were pretty quick at | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
getting things under control, I would say. Any idea how it started? | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
Obviously, the fireworks were scheduled. Any indication they were | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
somehow to blame? No idea, there is no word around at the moment | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
suggesting how this was started. I must be honest, I was extremely | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
nervous, because prior to this happening, we were very worried | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
because there was extra security this year. Nobody got too close to | :05:55. | :06:05. | |
anything, unless you paid for seating at the restaurant. We | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
thought, well, there seemed to be extra security, I wonder why. When | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
this happened I was very quick at saying to my daughter, we are going | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
to leave, get out of this area, away from the Burj Khalifa tower, in case | :06:21. | :06:29. | |
there is some situation we don't know. I intended to get out of the | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
area pretty quick, through the crowds, which isn't easy. People | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
were panicking as well, running across the street, pushing you over | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
to get away as well. Michelle, you are using very careful language, but | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
obviously when you see a skyscraper in flames, it does have rather | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
horrific reminders of previous disasters. Of course, of course. | :06:59. | :07:08. | |
This is exact Lee how I felt. I thought, crikey, what is going on | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
with the world we are living in at the moment. The Paris situation and | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
different things going on, you can't help but worry what could happen | :07:17. | :07:24. | |
next. When I saw it happen so quick, the first reaction was, I need to | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
get my children and get out of this area, get my kids out of this area, | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
and that is what I did. Michelle, I am grateful for your time. That was | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
a tourist who saw the blaze. I can speak now to David, who was staying | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
at a nearby hotel. What are you looking at at the moment? At the | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
moment I'm in the middle of the Burj Khalifa area just across the | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
fountain of the Burj Khalifa. I am here waiting for the fireworks at | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
the Burj Khalifa. Suddenly, half an hour ago, the building just across | :08:03. | :08:11. | |
from me just burst into flames. It started from the lower level. What I | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
can see right now, the fire is even getting bigger. I can tell you right | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
now, I think the firefighters really hard to handle the burning, the | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
fire, because it is spreading everywhere. It started from the | :08:29. | :08:38. | |
lower levels and now it is going up. I concede now the fire burning in | :08:39. | :08:46. | |
the hotel. According to people around me this is one of the very | :08:47. | :08:47. | |
famous hotels in downtown Jew by. If you could just hang on the line | :08:48. | :09:05. | |
for a moment. I want to explain that what we are looking at is a blaze at | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
the hotel called the Address. It is described as a sophisticated hotel, | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
providing top 5-star accommodation. There is an infinity pool, a 24-hour | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
gym, panoramic holistic spa, and a restaurant on the top floor as well. | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
There are seven different restaurants on the site. We are | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
looking at a huge area in terms of guest rooms and we can just show you | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
a close-up of the complex. And that is the scale of what we are looking | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
at and the fire taking hold of an entire side of that hotel. One of | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
the things people were talking about was the debris coming down onto the | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
street. Did you see that? Can you repeat the question? There were | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
reports of a lot of debris coming down on people below. Did you see | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
that? Yes. I can see a lot of debris coming down from the building and it | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
is getting bigger and bigger. It is quite scary, to be honest, at the | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
moment. The problem is the people inside the Burj Khalifa cannot move | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
anywhere. All of the security says we cannot move anywhere. Now people | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
are overlooking that building and it is quite scary because the fire is | :10:39. | :10:47. | |
getting bigger and wider. You say that firefighters are at the scene, | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
but looking at the flames, and we are looking at a local broadcast at | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
the moment, they appear to be getting worse by the minute. Yes, | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
yes. I think all the firefighters are already there but I think they | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
have difficulty to tackle the huge blaze that happens in this building | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
at the moment. Because I can see now, where I stand now is just | :11:14. | :11:25. | |
across inside the Burj Khalifa area, so the fire is just behind that area | :11:26. | :11:37. | |
in one of the famous tourist places in Dubai. New Year's Eve, it is | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
packed, ready for the fireworks. There have already been increased | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
security and this would be an area considered a threat for some. Yes, | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
yes. We are not sure about the fireworks, is it still going to | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
happen or not, because of this. But security said we cannot move | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
anywhere and we have to stay here at the moment. Many people are here | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
inside the complex at the moment. Described the mood in the downtown | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
area before the fire. Thousands of people getting ready to celebrate. | :12:13. | :12:19. | |
Yes. Before, the mood was very nice. People were cheering, happy, | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
waiting, queueing in the Burj Khalifa area. And since nothing | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
happened, everything was under control. Security everywhere, police | :12:34. | :12:42. | |
everywhere. I can guarantee it was smooth earlier. So now it is | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
happening, people start to worry. But again, like I said, no one can | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
move from here. And the Address Hotel, what can you tell us about | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
that? It is a huge complex, isn't it? Yes, it is a very huge complex. | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
It is a very famous hotel and usually during New Year 's time, at | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
at least 90% occupancy from what I read so far. It is a very famous | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
place, and very close to the Burj Khalifa area in Dubai, so many | :13:24. | :13:33. | |
tourists. It is always packed with tourists, the boulevard, especially | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
during this time. What is the weather like at the moment? Some | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
reports of strong wind which is hoping to spread the flames. Right | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
now, the weather is nice. It is not too cold. That is the thing that I | :13:48. | :14:01. | |
can describe so far. Obviously, with skyscrapers like this, and it is | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
home to the world's tallest skyscraper, this is something that | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
firefighters will have trained for. I am sorry, I can't hear you. So far | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
what I am seeing right now, the fire is still burning and is still | :14:18. | :14:25. | |
spreading to the left side of the building. And it keeps going up. So | :14:26. | :14:34. | |
I have no idea. How are they going to save the people inside? Hopefully | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
they can keep everybody safe. We can see from where I stand, I cannot see | :14:42. | :14:50. | |
how they deal with the fire. We are behind and inside the complex area | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
of Burj Khalifa. We were talking about a 5-star hotel. There are | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
obviously balconies there. Are they balconies where people have | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
barbecues in holiday time and things like that. I don't think they are | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
allowed to do that in a building like this. But according to people | :15:09. | :15:17. | |
standing beside me when I asked about the building, usually | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
sometimes the fireworks before the big ones coming started from that | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
area. But again, I am not sure about that. He said they usually have a | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
little show from that side of the building and then it goes to the big | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
building, the Burj Khalifa, but I am not sure again. Looking at the live | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
pictures, these are scenes you looking at, we are getting it from | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
local television and they are breaking into their regular | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
programme with the story, but it was quite clear that the fire appears to | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
have taken hold but there is still electricity in the building, so | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
there is still a chance for people to get out, presumably. Yes. How | :16:01. | :16:13. | |
fast the fire built up to the upper level of the building, that is the | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
thing we worried about very much. We are not sure. I haven't read any | :16:18. | :16:25. | |
news about any people, any victims or anything so far. And just | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
explain, people when they hear of stories like this, they turn on | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
their television to find out what is going on. Can you explain what your | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
understanding is off what has happened in the last hour since this | :16:38. | :16:47. | |
happened? Actually, it happened out of the blue. No one expected it was | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
going to happen. We are in the mood of getting ready for the massive | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
firework display from the Burj Khalifa. And suddenly someone | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
shouted and we looked to the right side of the building when the fire | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
just broke out. Everybody started to panic around here. They were taking | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
photos, videos and everything, but there is nothing much you can do | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
inside here because we cannot move. We just stay here so far, just | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
watching the fire happening until now. Inevitably, people will be | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
looking at this and wondering if we are looking at an accident, but | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
obviously two hours before a huge firework display scheduled to get | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
under way, that is where they are looking at the moment. Yes, indeed. | :17:43. | :17:54. | |
Because they were about to be ready for the firework display, so I am | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
not sure whether they are still doing it. People are quite calm at | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
the moment, no one seems to panic. Everybody just stays calm and | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
waiting. Many families, young kids also here. And I believe the | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
security handled it well so far, working very hard to make sure | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
people are calm and not panicked in this complex. Stay safe. Thank you | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
very much for giving us that latest information on this fire. My | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
colleague Nina Warhurst is here in the studio and we are monitoring | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
these pictures. It does look at the moment as though the fire is taking | :18:39. | :18:40. | |
hold but we still don't know what caused it. It looks to me, even in | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
the time I have been sat here, the fire has spread to the other side of | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
the hotel. We do not know what caused it, we have no picture so far | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
as to whether there are any casualties. Dubai At this time of | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
year is a popular holiday destination. Lots of people from the | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
UK will be heading there for some winter sun. We heard from a British | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
tourists earlier saying there was a party atmosphere in downtown Dubai. | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
People were looking forward to one of the world's biggest fireworks | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
displays. There will be people questioning whether the fireworks | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
were the cause of the blaze, although that has not been confirmed | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
yet. For people who have been there on holiday, looking forward to a | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
party night out, a celebration, it must be terrifying. Two of the | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
eyewitnesses have said how good the emergency services have been in | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
clearing the area around the hotel, which looks like there has been | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
debris falling over the past 45 minutes or so. Terrifying for people | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
there. Lots of reaction to this on Twitter, people speculating. Dubai | :19:52. | :19:58. | |
Media office have tweeted saying that the fire started on the 20th | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
floor, and at that stage it was outside the tower only. From these | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
pictures, it is clear that it has spread very fast. It also appears to | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
have spread not only above the 20th floor, but also below, because it | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
looks at though there were flames near the brown level -- near the | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
ground level as well. Yes, it has spread all the way across and down. | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
Interesting that the lights are still on, so you would hope that | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
people are able to make their way out if they are still trapped inside | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
the building. Because the lights are still on at the moment. But as you | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
say, it looks like it is engulfing the building. We knew that half an | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
hour ago it was across at least 20 floors and it looks like it has | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
spread even further. If you are just joining us, you are looking at | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
distressing pictures of a huge fire that has engulfed the Address Hotel | :20:53. | :21:00. | |
in downtown Dubai. This is just hours before a large firework | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
display was due to start to herald the New Year. It is now 10:20pm in | :21:04. | :21:12. | |
Dubai. Still more than an hour before the fireworks were scheduled | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
to go off, but people we have been talking to are suggesting that the | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
fireworks would normally be in the area where this fire is now taking | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
hold. It is just near the Burj Khalifa Tower, the world's largest | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
building. Reports from eyewitnesses, some of whom we have spoken to, | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
saying that debris, blazing debris is now falling onto streets below, | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
where a large number of fire crews are gathered as they try to tackle | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
the blaze. But as you can see, power is still on in the building, so the | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
hope is that people inside will be able to find their way to safety. | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
But let's talk now to another eyewitness who joins me on the line. | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
John, tell me what you are looking at. Hello, I am at a racecourse just | :22:03. | :22:13. | |
outside of central Dubai. 10,000 people here tonight, a sell-out. | :22:14. | :22:22. | |
About 40 minutes ago, the Burj Khalifa was lit up. Everybody | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
cheered. As they did, you could see flames coming from next door. It | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
caused chaos here. Some people were running, some screaming, not sure | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
what was going on. In these times, you don't know what is going on. | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
Security tried to calm us down. To be fair to the organisers here, | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
nothing was disrupted on stage. They carried on as normal and tried to | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
encourage people inside to enjoy the night. Word got round that a fire | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
had started in the building next door to the Burj Khalifa, known as | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
the Address, a combination of residential and a hotel. Eventually, | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
you could start seeing the flames coming from the hotel from where we | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
are. What we are seeing now, it seems to have calmed down a little. | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
At one moment you could see the fireworks, lots of sparks from the | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
building, lots of flames as well. Just looking at the Burj Khalifa, it | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
is lit up, ready for the big firework display tonight. It is just | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
plumed in smoke. The smoke is covering the skyline, creating this | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
fog and mist across the skyline. And the fear is that this fire will | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
spread to other buildings, because as we watch, it is getting bigger | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
and the bits of debris, much of it on fire, is spreading to other | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
buildings. We have been told that the whole of the central downtown | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
area, round by the fountains on the Burj Khalifa, has now been | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
completely evacuated. As you can imagine, the Address Hotel was due | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
to be part of the huge fireworks display. Obviously a lot of | :24:09. | :24:11. | |
pyrotechnics lined up across the building. Probably the images you | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
are seeing at home, with the fire going to the top of the Address is a | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
commendation of the fireworks and pyrotechnics going up in flames. We | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
are hearing from the civil defence official who has been speaking to a | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
TV station that there are no injuries, which is great news, | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
obviously. Also saying the New Year celebrations will proceed. That | :24:36. | :24:37. | |
would seem out of step with what we are looking at because it looks like | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
a major inferno that we are seeing. That doesn't surprise me. They seem | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
to just go on here regardless. Like I say, here, there are 10,000 people | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
here, a complete sell-out, huge event, one of the first times they | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
have hosted international DJs on New Year's Eve and hosted one of the | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
biggest events outside of the downtown area. We are being told to | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
enjoy the night, everything is going on as normal. I must admit that I am | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
surprised that is still the plan for downtown, after hearing they have | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
completely evacuated the area by the Burj Khalifa and the Address. But | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
from what I can see now, there do not seem to be any flames. There do | :25:24. | :25:31. | |
not seem to be any sparks or fireworks coming from the building. | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
From what we have been told, firefighters are trying to deal with | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
the situation. There were rumours that the actual Burj Khalifa was on | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
fire. I can guarantee that from here I can see very, very clearly that is | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
not the case. The reason some people are getting confused is because of | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
the plume of smoke covering a good quarter of the building. Looking at | :25:55. | :26:02. | |
these images, it is the worst scenario and many other images from | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
previous disasters spring to mind. You are looking at a tower block on | :26:07. | :26:14. | |
fire and seemingly out. It is a huge tower block. Right next to the Burj | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
Khalifa, very prominent in the skyline. We just pray that if there | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
is anybody in there, they are out safely. It doesn't look good from | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
here. The smoke is billowing out of the building. It is causing this fog | :26:32. | :26:41. | |
and smoke right across the skyline of Dubai. John, thank you. That was | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
an eyewitness. You are looking at images of the Address, a 5-star | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
hotel in the Downs town district, -- downtown district. We will have full | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
details. Reeta Chakrabarti will be here with a bulletin. We will now | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
look at the weather with Louise Lear. I am sorry, we are going to | :27:02. | :27:10. | |
join our colleagues at BBC world. We welcome viewers on the BBC News | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
Channel in the UK. We are watching the fire in Dubai. It has taken hold | :27:15. | :27:25. | |
of a 60 story luxury hotel, the Address in downtown Dubai. We are | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
showing live pictures of what is happening. This is very close to the | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
Burj Khalifa, which was due to be the focus of a massive and | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
spectacular firework display and a couple of hours. Obviously a lot of | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
fireworks being stored but we have heard from an official that it is | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
believed the fire you are witnessing took hold on the 20th floor of the | :27:49. | :27:57. | |
Address. With us on the line, Michelle, who is in Dubai. Remind | :27:58. | :28:06. | |
us, when were you aware that something was wrong? We were keeping | :28:07. | :28:17. | |
an ion the time. It was a beautiful night, a clear evening, lovely with | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
everything lit up, the hotel was lit up. We saw a black plume of smoke | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
coming between the Burj Khalifa tower and the Address Hotel. All of | :28:28. | :28:36. | |
a sudden we saw an orange flame and within minutes, a couple of minutes, | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
there was loads of flames, orange flames. The fire really started to | :28:42. | :28:47. | |
take hold, and before we knew it, the whole of the Address was getting | :28:48. | :28:55. | |
gutted and literally completely on fire from where we were standing. It | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
really was bad. And Michelle, you are close to the scene with your son | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
and daughter, you see the fire take hold, tell us how you reacted. To be | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
honest, I reacted like a mother would, I think, even though my son | :29:14. | :29:20. | |
and daughter are 22 and 25 years old, I quickly said to them, you | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
know what, I want to get you safe. We need to get out of here. My son | :29:26. | :29:34. | |
wanted to go back and get his car, actually from an underground car | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
park. I said, no, you are not, we are not doing that. We are going to | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
get out of this area. I wanted to leave the area before everybody else | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
started to leave, because there were thousands of people there and I did | :29:50. | :29:52. | |
not want to leave it too late in case there was more of a problem. We | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
have viewers watching the story developed, and it is important to | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
let people know, this would have been an incredibly crowded area, and | :30:04. | :30:04. | |
getting more crowded by the minute. I am not sure what time it was, | :30:05. | :30:14. | |
because I didn't have a watch on me, but, yeah, more and more people were | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
turning up all the time, for the New Year's celebration, they were | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
arriving, so the streets were getting crowded, there was a lot | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
people about. Michelle... As we were leaving, towards the end, people | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
were running in all directions and I got knocked over a couple of times | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
actually, trying to leave the area. Michelle, I am very glad you got | :30:38. | :30:46. | |
yourself, your son and daughter to safety. The incident began, and | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
painting the picture for us in Dubai, we are going to bring in Nina | :30:53. | :30:59. | |
Wadhurst who is watching these terrifying pictures. This is the | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
address hotel is really well-known, people would be flocking for New | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
Year's Eve. That is right. As you know Dubai is a popular destination | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
at this time of year, for people who live in colder climate, going there | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
to get some winter sun, and as you mention, it would have been | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
thousands of people in that area of down town due by getting ready for | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
the fireworks supposed to start in a couple of hour, the hotel is very | :31:27. | :31:33. | |
popular, it is five-star, a spa facility, people who will have spent | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
a lot of money, one can only imagine the terse very that has met them | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
there, and on the ground. We have seen several eyewitness can't, | :31:45. | :31:46. | |
photographs on Twitter, debris falling, which is still lit, falling | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
from the building, and we started monitoring these pictures probably | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
an hour ago, didn't we, at that time it seems cob confined more on the | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
left hand side, in that time we have seen it spread higher and higher and | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
reach further down to the ground. Interesting that some the lights | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
seem to be on so one would hope if there are people still inside there | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
will be a way of them finding their way out. We were hearing from | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
Michelle a few minutes ago, the sirens were on, within a couple of | :32:17. | :32:19. | |
minute, a fast reaction, I think we can go to the scene now, speak to | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
Devi. Can you hear me? Can you tell us where you are and what you can | :32:27. | :32:36. | |
see? Hi, yes. At the moment I am still inside the Burj Lhalifa area, | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
where thousands of people are still waiting for the massive fireworks | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
display in two hours, but then suddenly it happened like, I think, | :32:48. | :32:55. | |
45 minutes ago, where, when the building started on fire, and at the | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
moment, the fire is not as big as before. I can see the steel burning, | :33:01. | :33:11. | |
coming out from the building and I think the firefighters are doing | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
their job, trying to reduce the fire, but still I can see from where | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
I stand now, the fire is still on, on the middle of the building, and | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
the upper level, as well. But at the lower part of the building, what I | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
can see from where I am standing, it is getting reduced. The fire is not | :33:34. | :33:40. | |
as big as before. So, that is the thing I can describe it for you at | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
the moment. And I can also say that I think it security and the police | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
here, inside the Burj Lhalifa was very good to handle the situation S | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
people are so far... We cannot go anywhere, any way, so we have to | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
wait inside, and around this area is already sealed. No-one can get out | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
at the moment, because I have been, it is, they are still dealing with | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
the fire. That is all I can describe it at the moment to you. So Devi, to | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
be clear, have you been given advice by your hotel, about what to do? No, | :34:22. | :34:31. | |
I am not saying that. Where I am standing, I can see clearly about | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
the building on fire, but I am not saying -- staying in the hotel. | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
Where I am standing is quite far, it is just across the building, across | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
the, if I can describe, there is a big lake, around the Burj Lhalifa | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
where a million people are standing there, here, to wait for the fire | :34:54. | :35:02. | |
display. So far it is like this. Devi for those watching round the | :35:03. | :35:08. | |
world, this is an area, Dubai is known for its fireworks, this is a | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
place where people would have come specifically for tonight's | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
celebrations. Yes, indeed. You know, many people in the world know how | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
massive the fire display in Burj Lhalifa, everybody likes here, is so | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
excited to be honest, earlier, to wait for the fireworks, so we didn't | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
expect that this thing can happen, because the position of the building | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
is just not far from the Burj Lhalifa. It is just right across the | :35:42. | :35:49. | |
Burj Lhalifa, and it is a very famous popular destination for | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
tourist, especially during this New tourist, especially during this New | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
Year time. I believe there are many tourists staying in the hotel. That | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
is a very famous and posh hotel, from what I know so far. Down town | :36:05. | :36:12. | |
Dubai is at the centre of Dubai. You are watching this obviously in Dubai | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
and I mean we have noticed it seems the lights are on in part of the | :36:17. | :36:23. | |
hotel, but there must be a lot of connoisseur for people trapped | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
inside there? Yes, indeed, but so far what I can see, from where I | :36:28. | :36:36. | |
stand now, thousands of people, also still waiting calmly, and I can say | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
they are quite calm, no-one is panic, no-one is screaming, or | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
nothing, so I think leer the people, handle it, handle it pretty well, | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
they don't seem worried, at the beginning of course they started | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
taking videos, photos and telling everybody, send them, you see the | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
fire, when the fire broke out, but now, so tar they are quite calm, | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
because so many kids, young children, baby, you know, just | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
around me, to wait for the fire display, so I am not sure they still | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
are doing their fireworks, so we will still have to wait. Wait. | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
Very glad you are watching in from a place of safety, thank you very much | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
for being with us here on BBC News, as we follow this story, and watch, | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
we know the fire crews are at the seen, but much of the hotel there | :37:35. | :37:42. | |
still on fire, with me also is our Arab affairs editor Seb Stan Usher. | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
This is a landmark complex, it is so close to the Burj Lhalifa. Yes the | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
whole area, the hotel itself is a landmark area, it is a 63 storey | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
building. It has been there before the Burj Lhalifa rose, in the past | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
couple of years, the Dubai mall is next to it as well, so this is the | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
very heart of Dubai, in a sense the heart, you know, of the modern Arab | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
world, this is a skyline in Dubai that didn't exist 20 or 30 years | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
ago, so just the sight of seeing a building like this on fire, and the | :38:17. | :38:23. | |
speed with which it caught fire, has horrified people, I mean we | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
literally had no, not a clue, so far, of what might have caused it. | :38:28. | :38:30. | |
We have here and nothing from officials on that, I mean the only | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
thing we have heard, is from a civil defence official who said there are | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
no casualties but I think no-one can be sure of that whatsoever at the | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
moment, I think that is something we cannot a really think, I mean one | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
would hope that is the case, but this is a residential block as well | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
as a hotel, the fire from the pictures that we first saw seems to | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
have gone very very quickly up, at least 20 storeys, and it seems to | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
have happened very quickly, I mean, I caught sight of it about 50 | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
minutes ago now. Nothing before. And the picture... Were appearing, | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
showing the fire already engulfing most of the building. There had been | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
no build up to this. It wasn't a fire started. People noticed it, | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
starting to take pictures. That is what we were hearing from | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
eyewitness, Michelle said she saw black smoke and a flame and suddenly | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
there were flames all over I have spoken to one or two people in | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
Dubai, that is what is worrying them the most, that and the fact not just | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
people in there but as you were hearing, from the contributor just a | :39:39. | :39:41. | |
moment a I mean there were a huge number of people who were gathered | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
in that area, they had closed the area off hours ago, because of the | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
numbers who were there. Obviously, there are security, there are | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
ambulances, because of the New Year's celebration in any case, one | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
would hope that would be a help. Hearing from isn't any real | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
panening, I have heard it second-hand from one of the people | :40:05. | :40:13. | |
there they have been evacuated. There has been from an Rab TV | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
station which is broadcasting many of the pictures we are seeing, -- | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
Arab, they have said the understand is the fireworks will still go | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
ahead, from what I am hear ocean the ground, people say that is unlikely | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
as the situation is. I think officially it might be quite a long | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
time before we really get any sense of what has happened. To remind | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
viewers here in the UK and round the world, what we are looking at is | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
still the developing scene at near the Burj Lhalifa in Dubai, flames | :40:46. | :40:56. | |
have taken hold, across many storeys of the luxury hotel, the address | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
downTown Nina Warhurst is monitoring it for us. We should explain that | :41:02. | :41:09. | |
this is a magnet today, for what was supposed to be truly spectacular | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
firework display, Dubai was Prout proud of this. Under an | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
hour-and-a-half, they were due to be enjoying one of the world's biggest | :41:20. | :41:22. | |
fireworks display, people will have fireworks display, people will have | :41:23. | :41:25. | |
gone there specifically for New Year's Eve, because the fireworks | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
display that is so famous, it is popular, we have heard from | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
eyewitnesses there who said on the ground it was already tense, because | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
security services like in many cities round the world, ore New Year | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
security was tight, there were many checks going in so already people | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
were feeling tense, and then, what started off as a plume of smoke | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
developed very quickly, some comfort, hearing from now I have | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
heard from four, maybe five different eyewitness, they have all | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
really praised and the speed of the evacuation, the efficiency of | :42:02. | :42:04. | |
emergency service, they feel that the situation is under control but | :42:05. | :42:07. | |
looking at the picture... Of the last hour or so it does look like | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
the flames have spread to the other side the hotel. We knew early on it | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
has spread over 20 storey, and now it looks like it has engulfed the | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
middle section of the hotel, and it is a mix, it is residents as well, | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
people who live there. There have been some reports there are no | :42:28. | :42:30. | |
casualty, one wonders whether that can be the case when it spread so | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
quickly. Let us get more from Dubai and the BBC's correspondent Marcus | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
George. Marcus, tell us a bit about what you are able to see. Yes, it is | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
very clear at the moment, I am not in that particular air area of | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
Dubai, according to what I have been reading onnen the Dubai Government | :42:51. | :43:03. | |
media officer, Dubai is preparing for New Year's Eve celebration and | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
Dubai being Dubai is having a monumental celebration here, which | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
started in that area of the Burj Lhalifa, very near by the Address | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
Hotel many people were gathering to be there, and this fire broke out, | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
we don't know the cause, yet, that should come to light at some stage. | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
Certainly, the security service, as you have been hearing and the Fire | :43:30. | :43:32. | |
And Rescue Services have been quick to react. They are on the scene | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
right now, we are unclear as to whether the fire is out yet, but we | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
know that I have spoken to a couple of hotels in the area, and they are | :43:42. | :43:49. | |
ready to receive the guests from the Address Hotel one hotel, is ready to | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
receive the guests which will be evacuated. They are pretty full at | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
this time of year, so-and-so of course there are many people who | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
will be having to evacuate very quickly, and we don't, in terms of | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
loss of life, we haven't got any word about that. There is one or two | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
reports from local news station, saying there appears to be no loss | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
of life. We don't want to make that call yet because it is early day, | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
judging by the size of the fire. I have seen a great deal of pictures | :44:19. | :44:27. | |
on social media, and showing these enormous flames engulfing the | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
buildings, Dubai has hundreds of these kinds of sky scrapers and it | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
has a history of one or two of the fires breaking out. I should let you | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
know something that has come through from the media office in the last | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
minute, saying the Dubai media office celebrations will continue as | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
scheduled. Due, I suppose in about an | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
hour-and-a-half from now, but I should tell you, we are also watch | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
watching the live picture, these flames still engulfing it likes like | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
ten, 20 storeys of this massive hotel, we know there are | :45:02. | :45:04. | |
firefighters at the seen, but they have a massive challenge ahead of | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
them, and yet the Dubai authorities clearly want the celebrations to | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
continue. They have a lot invested in these celebrations don't they? | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
Very much so. I think it is, a showpiece for Dubai. It has put on | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
these enormous displays, to effectively put itself on the world | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
map, along with other major cities round the world, in its, in their | :45:29. | :45:33. | |
firework displays and so I am sure, I guess they are very confident if | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
this will go ahead, what, we don't appear to be seeing a, any sort of | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
major disaster unfolding in terms of loss of life. As I say it is too | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
early to call that, but it seems that if they are going to go ahead, | :45:50. | :45:55. | |
that certainly that is good news, as far as the whole tragic incident is | :45:56. | :45:57. | |
concerned. I am going to correct myself, | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
because I think what we are showing is in fact pictures from a few | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
minutes ago, so we are going to get up-to-date with the status of the | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
fire. As authorities knew there were going to be thousands of people in | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
the area, they did have ambulances and fire crews standing by. I mean | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
the logistics, the preparations for a night like this must be very | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
thorough indeed. Yes, it is enormous, they were expecting a huge | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
amount of guests and not just there, but of course Dubai has the a, as I | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
say, a big history of putting on these events and this particular | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
display was going to start at the Burj Lhalifa. The nor mous building, | :46:39. | :46:41. | |
the largest in the world. It was going to start there, going to snake | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
through town, pop up on the coast, and come towards where I am, at the | :46:46. | :46:53. | |
moment, towards the other major hotel, the iconic hotel, the one | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
that looks like a sail. It was going to follow piece by piece, all the | :46:58. | :47:04. | |
way up the coast and so this is of course, a major day for Dubai, | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
clearly they are happy to go ahead, but it is, it is something of a real | :47:09. | :47:16. | |
issue, that even if no lives, fortunately, they may or may not be | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
lost. It is about safety and security of thesed byings. Nine | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
monthsing a I was covering for the BBC another, tower fire hire which | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
engulfed some 20, 30 storey, the Dubai Torch Tower. Fortunately | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
nobody was injured or killed in that one, but I think seriously questions | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
will be asked about these kinds of events, these kinds of disasters, | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
and how they can improve safety and security in such large towers. | :47:48. | :47:59. | |
We are showing the live pictures, we can see from those, that the flames | :48:00. | :48:08. | |
are far fewer, the scale of the blaze appear to have been brought | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
back. I am going to bring in Nina, who has been following this. Nina, | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
since we first heard about the smoke coming up, the outbreak of this | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
blaze, we know they have been working from the first moments to | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
get this under control. Yes, that is a leaf, seeing those pictures, what | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
was frightening was the speed with which it appeared to spread. It | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
started out as a tiny puff of smoke on the right-hand side of the | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
building, but it spread rapidly over 20 or so storeys and within 10, 15 | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
minutes of seeing the flames we were seeing on Twitter pictures from | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
eyewitnesses saying that debris that was still lit, still on fire was | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
falling on and round them. We know about this building, there will be | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
lots of people in therement not just holiday-makers but residents who | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
live there. It is central. It is near the Burj Lhalifa, the tallest | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
sky scraper in the world, there will have been thousands in that area to | :49:06. | :49:08. | |
see the fireworks which was due to start in round 70 minutes or so. | :49:09. | :49:10. | |
Conflicting ereports as to whether Conflicting ereports as to whether | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
not that display will go ahead. The official story is yes, it will go | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
ahead, as expected for the crowds, but you wonder whether that can | :49:19. | :49:20. | |
happen, and what the scene is like happen, and what the | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
on the ground. Certainly eyewitnesses we have heard from at | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
the BBC and we have heard from four or five now, have all said it does | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
feel like it is under control. They feel safe. It has been scary but | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
they say emergency services have reacted well. Est will us get the | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
late paste in fact from the ground. -- latest in fact from the ground. | :49:42. | :49:50. | |
Are you able to see what is happening? The flames are still | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
taking hold of part of this hotel we see. Yes. Hello. Yes, there are | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
still plenty of flames round the hotel. I am in on a apartment on a | :50:01. | :50:08. | |
road, one of the busiest roads in Dubai. It is packed with traffic, | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
all you can see is little blue flashing lights trying to get | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
through. They are the emergency services trying to get to the hotel | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
next to the Burj Lhalifa. It is chaos, they had originally blocked | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
the roads in order to allow the flow of traffic, round Dubai city. | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
However know, all -- now, all this traffic has blocked off, the miles | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
and miles back, and has caused the emergency services not to be able to | :50:40. | :50:42. | |
get to the hotel as quick as they would like to. There is black smoke | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
covering the city as we speak as well, which is causing a bit of | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
distress to people who aren't actually round the scene, but | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
obviously people who are watching the news and praying no-one is | :50:58. | :51:05. | |
injured or hurt. We heard earlier from civil defence official speaking | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
on a TV channel saying there had been no injuries but obviously fire | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
still very much there in the address hotel company 2 it will have been | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
packed, I suppose, because one of the key addresses, for what promised | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
to be a spectacular night. Yes. I mean, in terms of that report saying | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
that there is no injuriesers I find that hard to believe. I mean, after | :51:29. | :51:35. | |
looking at such blazes and knowing how busy that hotel really would | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
have been, at this time. I is inner year, probably one of the biggest | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
hotels apart from the Burj Lhalifa round the down town Dubai area, and | :51:46. | :51:48. | |
I just know that you know, there would have been a lot people there. | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
People are saying no injuries, that is not saying no deaths at this | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
time, which is distressing for a lot of people here in Dubai and people | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
watching on the BBC News. You were talking about the streets | :52:02. | :52:08. | |
round you being choked with cars, presumably some emergency services | :52:09. | :52:11. | |
trying to get to the scene, others trying to get out. Have people | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
stayed fairly calm round you?. I think initially at the scene it was | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
dispressing -- distressing, people seeing the blaze and the black | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
smoke. Now people are slightly calmer and hoping that you know, | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
people inside the building are safe. That is the general feeling round | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
here in Dubai. Parties are still going aahead in terms of New Year, | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
it was going to be a spectacular display, now they will put that on | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
hold. I don't think it is the right time to celebrate the New Year, but | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
the mood I think is a lot calmer than it only was. It has been over | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
an hour since this blaze has been going, let us hope the emergency | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
services can snake their way through the busy traffic and get to the | :53:01. | :53:09. | |
Address Hotel We saw a tweet from the Dubai media office saying New | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
Year celebration will continue as scheduled. Well, that comes can as a | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
shock to me that the celebrations will continue as scheduled. I am | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
surprised the Dubai authority will let that go ahead. It is a | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
devastating, that is happening, whatever has caused it, so, whether | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
they are going to let, let that go ahead we will find out in due | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
course, I think it is just over an hour's time until midnight, so it | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
will be interesting to see whether the fireworks will go ahead. I | :53:41. | :53:43. | |
believe it wouldn't be the right thing to do, until they find out | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
exactly what has happened here, to celebrate town 16, but we will see | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
in over an hour's time. Stay with us. I want to get more from you, I | :53:53. | :53:58. | |
want to remind viewers on BBC News here in the UK, and round the world, | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
that we are following this developing story of a huge fire in a | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
luxury hotel in the heart of Dubai, near the Burj Lhalifa, the Burj | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
Lhalifa Burj Lhalifa area was due to be the centre. The focus of New | :54:12. | :54:19. | |
Year's celebrations in just over an hour's time in Dubai. On the phone | :54:20. | :54:28. | |
Inzi Rashid who is a journalist on holiday. There were meant to be | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
three fireworks displays there. There. Dubai prides itself on the | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
bigger better fireworks This was going to be one of the biggest | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
firework displays that Dubai has put on, you know, for the whole world, | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
to witness. There was an expected over two million people to be in | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
Dubai for these events. It was going to be a fireworks display lasting | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
over 20 minutes, starting at the Burj Lhalifa, then move round the | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
city and eventually end up, I believe at the beach resort. Whether | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
they will carry on with their display, again I am not sure, but it | :55:06. | :55:10. | |
was going to be a spectacular display, I am afraid the only fires | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
is on the Address Hotel which aren't positive. Stay with us. I want to | :55:16. | :55:24. | |
get a few thoughts from Nina. We have heard from a few eyewitnesses | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
talking about how quickly this took hold, even though the pictures we no | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
the flames are being doused to scene extent, but this developed rapidly. | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
When you think about the fact there will have been thousands of people | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
on the ground n the area, gathered for what we have heard would have | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
been a 20 minute firework display, and so in a way they have we have | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
incredibly detailed eyewitness accounts of it spreading. One lady | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
said we saw a small plume of smoke and suddenly the entire level was | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
engulfed and it spread higher and higher. After half an hour we saw it | :56:02. | :56:05. | |
going lower and lower down the building. Incredibly the lights on | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
the tower seem to have stayed on, one would have hoped that people | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
trying to escape have been able to do so safely and largely -- calmly. | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
At the moment reports say they have been any casualties and we hope that | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
that is the case. We hope no casualties are confirmed from all of | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
the eyeness withes we have heard of, they said there were lots of | :56:30. | :56:33. | |
emergency services on site because of the celebration, in fact we heard | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
from one eyewitness people were being turned away. So they were in a | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
position to start evacuating people from the area, so everybody we have | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
heard from has praised emergency services, the pictures we are seeing | :56:49. | :56:51. | |
are from roughly half an hour ago and the fire has been contained | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
better than the pictures suggest. Of course, thoughts are turning to the | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
cause and some speculation about whether the fireworks themselves | :57:02. | :57:04. | |
have been linked. There is no official line on that. People on the | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
ground said there was security to get closes to the site of the Burj | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
Lhalifa, opposite the Address Hotel so people a bit tense any way, | :57:15. | :57:19. | |
worrying about terror attack, there is no implication as to what the | :57:20. | :57:28. | |
causes are, we don't know yet. Thank you so up many for joining us Inzi, | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
able to keep us up-to-date there, we appreciate your time, and one of the | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
things we have heard from him whereas the flames you are seeing | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
are beginning to be brought under control, have been doused to some | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
extent, there is a lot of thick black smoke in which of course there | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
have been thousands of people waiting for the fireworks display, | :57:52. | :57:54. | |
which the authorities may still want to be holding in about an hour's | :57:55. | :58:16. | |
time. An band of showery rain continues to go eastwards. I leaves | :58:17. | :58:20. | |
a trail of showers an some of them wintry, to parts of Northern Ireland | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
and northern Scotland. Particularly above 200 metre for elsewhere, it | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
will be a chilly night but I suspect for many of the firework displays it | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
won't be disappointing. In terms of the feel of things you will need to | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
wrap up warm, hovering above freezing in towns and city centres | :58:38. | :58:40. | |
but just below rural spots and that could lead to a frost. Hopefully | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
early morning sunshine if you are up early enough because the cloud will | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
gather and rain will start to push into the south-west by the end of | :58:49. | :58:51. | |
the day. It will be a windy as well, that will take the edge off the feel | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
of thing, top temperatures to the north of four to six degree, further | :58:56. | :58:59. | |
south we are looking at round seven to 11, so a cooler feel in general. | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
The winds remain a feature, there is more rain to come I am afraid for | :59:05. | :59:05. | |
many. | :59:06. | :59:08. |