DUBAI — New skycrapers popping up in Dubai are feared to pose dangers to their occupants as they are covered with aluminum facades, which are highly inflamable, Fox News said on Friday.



“Shiny, new skyscrapers are popping up along Dubai’s skyline, but building experts fear that one of them could become a towering inferno,” said Fox News.



It said Thom Bohlen, chief technical officer of the Middle East Center for Sustainable Development, had told the BBC that around 70 percent of the high-rise buildings built in United Arab Emirates cities like Sharjah and Dubai have been covered with aluminum facades.



“(The facades) are good-looking, long-lasting and easy to maintain, but they have one big problem — they burn rapidly,” Fox News quoted Bohlen as saying.



Fox News said discarded cigarette butts or unattended charcoal grills could start a fire in one of the estimated 500 buildings in Dubai and other emirates comprising UAE.



It said that on April 23, a fire broke out at the 20-story Al Hafeet Tower in Sharjah and that fires also ensnared the 34-story Tamweel Tower in Dubai in November 2012 and 40-story Al Tayer tower in Sharjah in April 2012.



Quoting Bohlen, Fox News said the UAE has passed new laws banning the use of flammable facades, but only in the construction of new buildings. — SG