{Dubai – Grasping the edge of a balcony 48 stories from the ground, just metres away from a raging fire, the photographer thought he may not live to see 2016.}<\/p>\n
“One hour, then that’s it, I’m dead,” he thought as he stood on the tiny sill of a balcony in Dubai’s luxury The Address Downtown hotel, attached by a rope to a massive window-cleaning platform.<\/p>\n
Not long before, he had entered the balcony with a friend to take photographs of the nearby New Year’s Eve fireworks display for his newspaper.<\/p>\n
But the night suddenly changed when a huge fire erupted in the hotel below them, engulfing several floors of the huge building in the heart of the skyscraper city.<\/p>\n
“There’s a fire,” his friend shouted, rushing towards the nearest exit, before the photographer looked out and saw “smoke coming towards the balcony”.<\/p>\n
Afraid that he would die from suffocation, and unable to see how he could escape, the photographer decided there was only one thing for it: to tie a rope from himself to a window-cleaning platform and hang off the balcony.<\/p>\n
He rolled out some 30m of a heavy-duty cable from a nearby machine used by workers to clean the tower’s windows, attached it to his belt and photographing equipment and stepped off the edge.<\/p>\n
The rope “was my saviour”, he told AFP, asking not to be named and explaining that the fire was less than 10m away from him at that point.<\/p>\n
‘Afraid I might collapse’<\/p>\n
He feared he would die from suffocation, he said. “I wasn’t sure what was happening downstairs. I was afraid I might collapse from the smoke.”<\/p>\n
Holding on for dear life outside the building, he began calling and texting his colleagues asking them to get in touch with the civil defence for help.<\/p>\n
Civil defence representatives kept him calm as he waited to be rescued. “I was telling them I hoped to survive and see my wife,” he said.<\/p>\n
More than half an hour later, he heard rescue workers approaching his floor.<\/p>\n
“When I saw lights and heard the sounds of footsteps at the floor I was in, I started tapping on the aluminium to get their attention,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I think I was the only person left stuck that long,” he said, describing how he was led out through the smoke-filled corridors of the five-star hotel.<\/p>\n
Dubai’s police chief said that all the residents had been evacuated due to the blaze, the cause of which was unknown.<\/p>\n
Not far away, Dubai’s fireworks display erupted as usual to welcome in the new year, starting from the Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building – before spreading across the skies above the city.<\/p>\n
For the photographer, the start of 2016 is something he will never forget. “I’m excited because it’s New Year, and [filled with] an adrenaline rush,” he told AFP, his voice still shaky.<\/p>\n
Source:News 24:'[One hour, then I’m dead’ – Dubai fire survivor hangs from balcony->http:\/\/www.news24.com\/World\/News\/one-hour-then-im-dead-dubai-fire-survivor-hangs-from-balcony-20160101]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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