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More here : bbc.in/1NXlnZle Fire has broken out in the Address Downtown hotel in Dubai close to the world's tallest skyscraper on new year 2016. Fire in 336m Dubai residential skyscraper 21 February 2015 Last updated at 05:49 GMT A fire has ripped through the 79-storey Torch Tower in Dubai, but no casualties have been reported. The tower stands at 336m, making it one of the world's tallest residential buildings. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated. Ben Bland reports. The authorities in Dubai are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city centre on New Year's Eve. After battling for more than 20 hours, firefighters appear to have extinguished most of the blaze at the Address Downtown Hotel. An eyewitness has told the BBC only a couple of small isolated fires are still burning. The tower was evacuated and 16 people were hurt. A fireworks show went ahead at the Burj Khalifa tower nearby, the world's tallest building and an iconic symbol of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Video and pictures taken by resident Malcolm Carter and sent to the BBC showed the fire that burned on the terrace area earlier on Friday morning had been put out and significantly less smoke was coming from the building. The pictures show the facade facing the Burj Khalifa had been severely damaged by fire and smoke, and that all floors from the lower area of the building to the upper levels were affected. The cause of the blaze, which is said to have started on the 20th floor, is still not known. The BBC's Marcus George in Dubai says streets around the Address Downtown Hotel have been cordoned off, but boulevards around the Burj Khalifa are open. Last Thursday, as 2015 was drawing gently to a close, I was standing at a hotel window overlooking a snow-carpeted Istanbul when I received a telephone call from my Dubai-resident daughter. “Dad,” she said, “you might see on the news that there's a fire at The Address in Downtown Dubai. I'm there, but I've got out of the hotel safely and I'm going home.” I hadn't been following the news and hadn't been worried, but I was rather relieved to hear that she was in no danger. Switching on the TV and checking social media, I, like millions of others around the world, was shocked by the pictures of the towering inferno that the hotel had become. Those, surely, will be among the memorable images of the year that has just begun, as will those of the stunning midnight fireworks display with The Address blazing in the background. There's been some criticism, particularly on social media, of the decision by the Dubai authorities to go ahead with the fireworks. That, though, seems misplaced to me. There was no valid reason on safety grounds for cancelling the display which, in any case, represented a good example of the Dubai spirit of carrying on regardless, despite adversity. The rapid response of Dubai's firefighters also offered a good example of the city's capacity to deal with an emergency, even if, as it transpired, there was little or nothing that could be done to halt the progress of the flames. Remarkably, there were no serious injuries and only a very few minor ones, an outcome for which all can be thankful. The owners of The Address have said that they plan to make the necessary repairs. Although that will take time, it may well be feasible, given that most of the damage appears to have been caused by the rapid burning of the exterior cladding rather than to the main structure itself. It's eminently reasonable, though, to be concerned about the possible impact of future fires in the skyscraper cities of the Emirates. The cladding of The Address, so we are told – and as we have seen – was highly flammable. It was of a type that was regularly approved for use until two or three years ago. Dozens of UAE skyscrapers, perhaps more, may be clad in the same material. How is it that it wasn't banned much earlier, if its flammable properties were widely known? In the event of any future blaze, it must at least be possible that casualties could be substantially higher.