Breaking News: Fire at Atlantis Dubai

[dubaidave]

The main lobby of the Hotel Atlantis on the Palm Dubai went up[ in flames this morning.

Initial reports say it was a small fire in the lobby started by welding equipment. The water park has not been damaged. I will post as many details as I can when I have them.

 

Here are some photos I have found on the Internet. I have been told that part of the hotel has collapsed, but nothing official. I will ate,pt to get down there later today to try and get some pics.

[FLIPDUDE]

What a shame... First and foremost I hope nobody got hurt.

Second... I hope the damage done to the hotel isn't too bad and that it won't effec tthe hotels opening too much

[dubaidave]

I have just been down to the Palm to see what the damage is.

Nothing has collapsed, however the entire lobby has been destroyed. It seems, from the outside, that the fire was contained there. No Doubt the amazing sculpture in the centre has been lost. My other worry would be smoke damage. A lot of corridors lead from the lobby and when I was there last week there seemed to be no way to block the smoke.

Here's a better picture.

This is the amazing sculpture that must have been destroyed.

This is what the lobby used to look like

It seems to have been totally destroyed

This is the lobby area.

As you can see the reports of a collapse where not true.

You can not get onto the crescent where the hotel is located.

[BigThunderMtn]

What a shame, looked like a beautiful lobby, but at least in Dubai there is plenty of money floating around to rebuild it with! The most important thing being that no one was hurt, of course.

[dubaidave]

There are updates and more photos at

 

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10241983.html

 

They say that it was just the roof of the lobby and there were no injuries. We were supposed to be going to Aquaventure again tomorrow but they have cancelled it.

 

They are also saying that the Bridge Suite, located directly above the fire and $25,000 per night, has suffered sever smoke damage.

[vistaway]

Wow, that chihuly sculpture is amazing...must look pretty interesting now...

[Airtime&Gravity]

Wow, well that sucks, but at least no one was injured. When I was looking at the photos, it looked a lot worse than it was, but for a brand new resort, a fire is never a good thing.

[Hikaru-chan]

Would the glass really be destroyed/shattered by the heat?

[Airtime&Gravity]

^It's possible, but I think the fire would have to be extremely hot and intense for it to be. Looking at the pictures, it is likely that it was, so the sculpture was probably destroyed.

[dubaidave]

"Sources say that the damage to the Grand Lobby was confined to the roof, the 50m Chihuly sculpture remains intact/untouched and a tour of the site revealed no major damage to the rooms or structure."

 

Sounds like they have been very lucky.

[pianojohn]

Yeah, I was going to say that was a Chihuly sculpture. I went to the exhibit at the Deyoung Museum in San Francisco and saw some amazing glass scultures there.

 

Here are a few pics of his work from the exhibit. Thank goodness the lobby sculpture was not lost to the fire.

Outside the museum was a huge sculture, probably 30 feet tall and illuminated at night.

The last room had a ton of different glass scultupes

This was a whole ceiling filled with blown glass.

This was a huge piece with a boat filled with various pieces.

[coastersfosho]

so ive been to the one in the bahamas. and first off i didnt even know there was one in dubai.

[Cobra Commander]

Is this a clone of the resort at Paradise Island?

[FLIPDUDE]

It's not a clone, there are differences, however the main concept and the key elements of the hotel(The shark tank slides, the giant hotel building with the bridge suite, etc.) have been kept.

[taytig]

I'm glad the damage was kept to a minimum - the hotel looks absolutey beautiful.

 

One day I'll stay there - at least I can dream about it!

 

David

[WFChris]

Im sorry, it says 50m Sculpture...meaning $50,000,000 sculpture? holy crap...!

 

chris.