Fire rips through high-rise residential tower in UAE

Flames have ripped through a high-rise residential tower in the United Arab Emirates. The blaze, in the Ajman emirate, is the latest in a string of skyscraper fires. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the cause of the fire is not known. A video posted online by police showed burning debris falling from a building of more than two dozen storeys, as police cordoned off roads leading to the site. Fire breaks out in residential buildings in Ajman; civil defence on ground https://t.co/qy8C2T2SJc pic.twitter.com/JQDofBWniM— Emirates 24|7 (@Emirates247) March 29, 2016 It is at least the fourth major high-rise fire in the UAE in three years. Last New Year’s Eve, a blaze hit a downtown hotel in Dubai. In February last year, fire broke out at a 79-storey residential building in Dubai. And in November 2012, a 34-storey Dubai residential building was partially gutted. In some of those cases, experts said the speed at which the fires spread may have been due to the use of flammable cladding on the buildings’ exteriors for decoration or insulation.