A large fire broke out yesterday at a construction site on a giant artificial 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 and created a "pretty toxic smell". He said that construction was at the stage of "primary ducting and piping". A statement issued later by Nakeel, the company developing the island, said the fire commenced "within the building igniting building materials and causing substantive smoke." It said that one worker was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, and that the contractor working on the building which is owned by a third party has confirmed that all workers have been accounted for. Government-owned Nakheel says the Palm, which juts into the shallow waters of the Gulf in the shape of palm fronds, was built using 100 million cubic metres of sand and rock, and is large enough to be seen from space. Palm Jumeirah is one of three large man-made islands being constructed off the coast of Dubai. Property owners have already moved into some of the buildings. In January, two Asian workers were killed and 57 others wounded in a similar fire which erupted in an under-construction tower in Dubai. Similar accidents have prompted the police to impose strict safety regulations on construction sites. Dubai is in the midst of a drive to establish itself as the Gulf's business and leisure hub.
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