A fire has ripped through the Torch skyscraper in Dubai, one of the tallest residential buildings in the world.
Strong winds helped the blaze to spread across the 336.1m (1,105ft) high building in the marina district.
One eyewitness told the BBC “there was debris flying everywhere, falling into neighbouring buildings”.
It was not immediately known what caused the fire or whether people were inside the building. There are no reports yet of any casualties.
Thousands of people have reportedly been evacuated. A number of fire engines and ambulances are now at the scene.
Some reports said the fire appeared to be under a measure of control but that it flared when there were gusts of wind.
“In an hour-and-a-half the fire is almost out on about 60 floors, it looks like mostly the outer apartments that are damaged,” eyewitness Rola told the BBC.
She said it looked like the blaze started on the 50th floor.
“It’s an iconic building, people were out on balconies all around it watching – even though it was 3am (23:00 GMT Saturday),” she said.
“The civil defence came really quickly and they have said there were no casualties, everybody was told to evacuate in a timely manner and we think everybody is OK.”
Another witness told Gulfnews.com that the building looked like “the Titanic going down”.
The 79-storey building opened in 2011.
In 2012, a fire swept through the 34-storey Tamweel Tower in Dubai.
No-one was injured, however hundreds of residents were left homeless after the blaze which police said was caused by a cigarette butt.
