Dubai's Torch Tower residents readying to pick up pieces

Santosh, a South African, was in a 69th floor apartment in the Torch Tower in 2015 when the first fire took place before he moved to the 43rd floor in the same building. His first reaction on Thursday night when the blaze broke out was: "Not again". He was living all alone and all he could grab with himself before vacating the building was his Emirates ID.

Santosh has been living in Ghaya Grand Hotel in Dubai Sports City along with 200 others. His apartment was waterlogged and completely dark when he managed to visit it last evening but he expects to pick up the pieces on Sunday when the first bus leaves the hotel for Dubai Marina at around 9am.

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So will he continue staying in Torch Tower? "I am being transferred to Poland anyway. So it's goodbye Dubai for me as of now."

A staff of the hotel said they have accommodated several people based on photo copies of their ID cards, but had to turn their backs on many for lack of any document.

Many residents, however, have been allowed since to return to the building to collect belongings that are valuable or the stuff they urgently need.

'Familiarly shocking sight'

Welsh Dave and Gemma (name changed on request), who have been living in Dubai Marina for the past three years, have been second-time witnesses of the Torch fire too. The residents of the Princess Tower, the world's tallest residential tower, said they remember hearing a loud explosion when the fire broke out the first time in February 2015.

"Nothing like that this time but I did see shrapnels flying out towards our building after we were woken up to loud noises. We could see lot of police vehicles and firefighters as the building was in flames. We couldn't gauge the extent of the damage then but the sight was shockingly familiar," said the couple who lives on the 70th floor of the building next to the Torch Tower.

The building's open air swimming pool remains closed because of the debris from the Torch Tower, added the couple.

The fire also damaged scores of cars parked in the parking adjacent to the Torch Tower. Police continue to keep a close watch at the site as investigations pick up pace.

'Believe in ethical responsibility'

GM of Ghaya Grand Hotel Olwin Desouza said, "I believe in having an ethical responsibility to society and helping wherever possible. Here at the Ghaya Grand Hotel, our team members were on site at the Torch Tower on Friday to resolve emergency accommodation with the management company and deliver help to the victims from moral support to transporting them to our hotel, ensuring a stress free check in and making sure they felt safe and comfortable.

"At this stage, it's a priority to ensure safety of all victims with their accommodation including meals being taken care of till this situation is resolved."

(with inputs from Abhishek Sengupta)