FIRE BREAKS OUT IN DUBAI

DEC 31 2015, 2:16 PM ET

Fire Breaks Out in Dubai Skyscraper Near the Burj Khalifa


DUBAI — An inferno engulfed a luxury hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday night as hundreds of thousands of New Year's Eve revelers gathered for the annual fireworks display.

The fire tore up the facade of The Address Hotel, a 63-story hotel, residence and mall down the street from the Burj Khalifa tower, the world's tallest building.

 Dubai Skyscraper Burns Ahead of New Year's 0:59

A civil defense official told Al Arabiya television that Dubai's New Year celebrations will proceed.

"There are no injuries, thank God ... of course, it will not affect the celebration," Maj. Gen. Rashed al-Matrushi, general director of the Dubai Civil Defence, told the live broadcast.

The Dubai government's media office said on its Twitter feed that civil defense teams were working to evacuate the hotel and tackle the fire. The blaze is reported to have originated from outside the 20th floor of the hotel, but "has not spread inside," the media office said.

 People Run to Safety to Escape Dubai Hotel Fire 0:27

"Internal fire extinguishers are preventing spread of fire inside the hotel. Four squads of firefighters are working to control a fire."

Margaret Besheer, an American vacationing in Dubai, was dining on a nearby terrace when she looked up to see a fire on a lower balcony.

"It just spread very rapidly, I'd say within six or seven minutes, the entire side of the building was just engulfed in flames," she told MSNBC.

— GlobalDiabetic (@GlobalDiabetic)December 31, 2015

The Address complex is the 19th tallest building in Dubai at nearly 1,000-feet tall. It is a mixed-used complex, with residences, rentals, retail and dining. Wolfgang Puck runs a restaurant in the complex.

Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Gulf Arab trade and investment hub.