Amateur footage posted online showed fire engulfing the upper floors of the tower -- home to hundreds of expatriates -- with debris falling onto the road as strong winds fanned the flames.

Civil defense teams cleared the building, which at 336 meters is one of the world'€™s tallest residential towers. Police said there were no fatalities but seven people were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

A civil defense department statement said the fire began on the 51st floor and swept across the tower'€™s facade affecting 20 stories.

Maj. Gen. Rashid Thani al-Matroushi, director of Dubai civil defense, said firefighters were able to stop the fire spreading to nearby buildings in the nearby Dubai Marina neighborhood, where people were evacuated.

Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours, before hundreds of residents of nearby towers were allowed to return to their apartments.

Also on Saturday, local media reported that 10 foreign laborers had perished in a fire that destroyed a makeshift hostel above a tire shop in Abu Dhabi.

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