Tenants return to Dubai tower damaged in blaze

Dubai: Some of the over thousand people displaced from one of the world's tallest residential buildings here after a massive fire damaged large portions of the tower started returning to their homes on Sunday.

A day after the fire, some tenants were seen entering 'The Torch' tower to either pick up their belongings from apartments damaged by the fire or to pick up their lives from where they left off.

The fire began in early hours yesterday at the 50th floor of the 79-floor residential Torch Tower on the northeastern end of Marina district in Dubai.

The fire had displaced thousands of residents from their homes.

Tenants living on floors between the sixth and the 30th floor safely returned to their homes since their apartments were not affected by the fire, Gulf News reported.

For those whose homes were damaged, place was made for them to stay on the 97th floor of Princess Tower, the building across The Torch tower.

The blaze in Dubai skyscraper broke out a day after another major fire in Musaffah Industrial Area in Abu Dhabi killed 10 people belonging to different nationalities.

Statistics from the Dubai Civil Defence show that most fires in the emirate in 2014 were reported from residential buildings, followed by skyscrapers. Overall, the number of fire incidents registered a drop of 8.7 per cent as compared to 2013.