These charred walls belong to the Torch Tower which, at 70 storeys, is the 10th tallest skyscraper in Dubai.
Early on Saturday morning, a fire broke out on floor number 50. The building’s 3,000 residents were evacuated, along with the occupants of two nearby buildings and surrounding roads, and the blaze was brought under control – but not before it had spread through much of the top third of the building.
Here’s the skyscraper, also known as the Marina Torch or Marina Tower, in happier times:
Image: Guilhem Vellut at Wikimedia Commons.
It was the world’s tallest residential building when construction was completed in 2011, but its reign was shortlived: three other residential buildings in the Dubai Marina district alone surpassed it in 2012.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Luckily, no one was hurt, and residents were allowed back into the building yesterday.
