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		</div><p>A towering inferno that engulfed a 63-storey luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year&#8217;s Eve burned on into the first morning of 2016 as firefighters worked to douse its embers.</p>
<p>The blaze at the Address Downtown, one of the most upscale hotels and residences in Dubai, comes after a series of fires striking the towers that provide the city&#8217;s futuristic skyline.</p>
<p>While Dubai officials said only 14 people suffered minor injuries in evacuating the building late on New Year&#8217;s Eve, the fire raised new questions about building safety for those living in the United Arab Emirates.</p>
<p>The fire started around 9.30pm on Thursday, racing up the sides of the building. Still authorities went ahead and conducted a midnight fireworks show at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the world&#8217;s tallest building.</p>
<p>More than 12 hours later, Dubai firefighters largely watched the fire from the ground, unable at one point to use a water hose on a ladder truck.</p>
<p>They later regained water pressure and resumed spraying the building.</p>
<p>https://youtu.be/TKwQ8bywy_k</p>
<p>Restaurants nearby opened for business, but served limited menus as civil defence officials cut natural gas to the area.</p>
<p>By the afternoon, the fire had largely died down, but its embers still sent smoke into the air.</p>
<p>Dubai&#8217;s Media Office wrote on its official Twitter account that the fire appeared to have started on a 20th floor terrace, though witnesses who saw the blaze start said they believed it began on the building&#8217;s ground floor.</p>
<p>About 1 million people had been expected to gather around the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to watch the fireworks.</p>
<p>Dubai&#8217;s economy depends heavily on tourism, and New Year&#8217;s is one of the busiest seasons, drawing people from around the world to watch the fireworks that the emirate puts on at the world&#8217;s tallest tower, as well as the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and over a man-made palm-shaped island.</p>
<p>No-one has yet offered a cause for the fire. It is clear if the Address Downtown was to be involved in the fireworks display.</p>
<p>Dubai-based Emaar Properties, which built the Burj Khalifa, the Address Downtown and other surrounding developments, declined to immediately answer questions about the fire.</p>
<p>It did issue a statement praising authorities &#8220;for their immediate and professional support&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;An investigation is ongoing and details will be provided once they are ascertained,&#8221; the statement said.</p>
<p>Lieutenant General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE&#8217;s deputy prime minister and interior minister, also praised first responders to the blaze for &#8220;the success of the rescue operation&#8221;.</p>
<p>But challenges remain as Dubai has faced a series of recent tower fires.</p>
<p>In February, a similar blaze spread along the external cladding of Dubai&#8217;s 86-storey Torch tower, one of the world&#8217;s tallest residential buildings.</p>
<p>There were no serious casualties in that fire.</p>
<p>In October, another fire broke out in a high-rise residential tower in the Emirati city of Sharjah.</p>
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