DUBAI, May 6: A large fire broke out on Sunday at a construction site on a giant man-made palm-shaped island off the coast of the booming emirate of Dubai.

Smoke billowed over buildings along the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah Island and was visible from far away, while fire engines rushed to cross the bridge linking the island to the mainland.

An engineer who worked on the site said that the fire erupted in the basement of a nine-storey building, pointing out that it was still raging and creating a “pretty toxic smell”.

Although he confirmed that all engineers had been accounted for, he could not confirm that all workers were out of the building, saying that the contracting company was counting its workers.—AFP