Well that was a new year I will never forget!
I am currently working and living in Dubai on rotation. We started a lovely evening with drinks on the balcony of the Wolfgang Puks' restaurant Cut which has one of the best locations to view the firework display. The balcony only has 8 tables and there was about 7 tables occupied. We had just started dinner and were all chatting. I noticed smoke coming from somewhere above us to the left. I joked that I hoped it was not my steak burning.
Below us was a lovely area with outdoor seating and was in the process of filling up but not a lot of people there.
One member of staff started waving frantically up to the building above her waving as if indicating to someone not to do something. My initial thought was we had a "jumper" and someone was about to throw themselves off the building when suddenly a burning piece of something fell from above us. It then computed in my mind that someone had set the cushion of the sunbed on ther balcony on fire and had thrown it down, hence the staff member gesticulating not too.
Suddenly, a large piece of burning plastic about 5 feet x 3 feet hit the balcony where we were sitting, it bounced off and landed on the palm tree below. I knew this was serious and immediately told the company and others on the balcony we need to get out. I opened the doors which led inside to the main restaurant where around 20 tables were full of people eating. On the way screaming at the Oriental group who were sitting behind us, who now had phones out and filming to get the hell inside and get out!
As I entered the restaurant I immediately shouted FIRE we need to all get out now please move towards the door. People looked at me like an idiot, I kept shouting and headed to the manual call point on the wall. I broke the glass...nothing. At this point people started to see debris falling past the window and realised what I was saying. There was no panic and people started to exit.
On the way down I activated every fire alarm break glass I could see and no alarm sounded. I live in this place and was very conscious that people in the apartments above may yet not be aware of the situation.
On leaving the hotel main door I bumped into a Manager and again explained that this was VERY serious and he need to manually activate all his fire alarm and fire fighting systems.
We got onto the street and that is when the real problems started. It was chaos due to shear volume of people. Then my fears came true, some idiot shouted "BOMB" and all hell broke loose. I pulled my partner behind a crash barrier and watched a sea of people push, pull kick, scream, stand on others, it was hell.
Within 20 minutes of the first piece of debris fall the hotel was a fire ball, a real eye opener to how fast it spread.
The media reporting has been really censored, We were watching explosion after explosion and Sky News were reporting the situation was 90% under control. I have no idea what that means, but I can assure you it was anything short of under control.
They also reported no injuries, my goodness, how they can tell that 2 hours after the fire start I have no idea, although they are saying now some minor injuries.
We all stood in pure shock and disbelief that the fireworks went ahead. The building 100 ft away is in flames with potential fatalities but the show and fake front to Dubai must go on...completely unbelievable. My worst fear is we will never learn the true cost of the Indian, Pakistani, Pilipino people who may have died, they are too insignificant to report in the eyes of this country.
Just count our blessings that we got out and have good friends who we will stay with until we can get passport sorted out and get new accommodation arranged. We were due to return to UK on Monday, but without passports I'm not sure that will happen.
Happy New Year!
I am currently working and living in Dubai on rotation. We started a lovely evening with drinks on the balcony of the Wolfgang Puks' restaurant Cut which has one of the best locations to view the firework display. The balcony only has 8 tables and there was about 7 tables occupied. We had just started dinner and were all chatting. I noticed smoke coming from somewhere above us to the left. I joked that I hoped it was not my steak burning.
Below us was a lovely area with outdoor seating and was in the process of filling up but not a lot of people there.
One member of staff started waving frantically up to the building above her waving as if indicating to someone not to do something. My initial thought was we had a "jumper" and someone was about to throw themselves off the building when suddenly a burning piece of something fell from above us. It then computed in my mind that someone had set the cushion of the sunbed on ther balcony on fire and had thrown it down, hence the staff member gesticulating not too.
Suddenly, a large piece of burning plastic about 5 feet x 3 feet hit the balcony where we were sitting, it bounced off and landed on the palm tree below. I knew this was serious and immediately told the company and others on the balcony we need to get out. I opened the doors which led inside to the main restaurant where around 20 tables were full of people eating. On the way screaming at the Oriental group who were sitting behind us, who now had phones out and filming to get the hell inside and get out!
As I entered the restaurant I immediately shouted FIRE we need to all get out now please move towards the door. People looked at me like an idiot, I kept shouting and headed to the manual call point on the wall. I broke the glass...nothing. At this point people started to see debris falling past the window and realised what I was saying. There was no panic and people started to exit.
On the way down I activated every fire alarm break glass I could see and no alarm sounded. I live in this place and was very conscious that people in the apartments above may yet not be aware of the situation.
On leaving the hotel main door I bumped into a Manager and again explained that this was VERY serious and he need to manually activate all his fire alarm and fire fighting systems.
We got onto the street and that is when the real problems started. It was chaos due to shear volume of people. Then my fears came true, some idiot shouted "BOMB" and all hell broke loose. I pulled my partner behind a crash barrier and watched a sea of people push, pull kick, scream, stand on others, it was hell.
Within 20 minutes of the first piece of debris fall the hotel was a fire ball, a real eye opener to how fast it spread.
The media reporting has been really censored, We were watching explosion after explosion and Sky News were reporting the situation was 90% under control. I have no idea what that means, but I can assure you it was anything short of under control.
They also reported no injuries, my goodness, how they can tell that 2 hours after the fire start I have no idea, although they are saying now some minor injuries.
We all stood in pure shock and disbelief that the fireworks went ahead. The building 100 ft away is in flames with potential fatalities but the show and fake front to Dubai must go on...completely unbelievable. My worst fear is we will never learn the true cost of the Indian, Pakistani, Pilipino people who may have died, they are too insignificant to report in the eyes of this country.
Just count our blessings that we got out and have good friends who we will stay with until we can get passport sorted out and get new accommodation arranged. We were due to return to UK on Monday, but without passports I'm not sure that will happen.
Happy New Year!