A fire that engulfed the higher floors of a 79-story apartment tower in Dubai, raining down burning debris, has been extinguished, a witness for Reuters said.
There were no reported injuries but the fire was fueled by windy conditions and had engulfed between 10 and 15 floors of the more than 1,100-foot-tall tower, named The Torch, witnesses said. The building was evacuated.
"I saw the fire falling from the window," Mehdi Ansari, who lives on the 27th floor and escaped with his wife and baby after the alarms sounded, told NBC News.
He said the fire appeared to begin around the 52nd floor, and it grew to cover between 10 and 15 more floors surrounding it. Winds were blowing the flames down the building he said.
Ansari said the escape from the burning tower, located in the marina district, was orderly.
"The firefighters did well. They were pretty quick, they organized people, got them out, gave them water and found others," he said.