High-rise tower at Dubai Marina hit by drone as debris kills taxi driver

A taxi driver was killed when debris from an Iranian drone strike fell on him in Dubai.

In a statement on social media, Dubai's Media Office said falling debris hit a taxi and killed the male Pakistani driver after an aerial interception.

Meanwhile, videos circulating online also show thick smoke and flames rising from the upper floors of the 23 Marina Tower, one of the city's prominent skyscrapers at Dubai's Marina.

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It was hit by debris from an interception the authorities said.

The marina is close to many tourist attractions and city institutions, including the American University of Dubai and the Dubai Marina Mall.

Many western expats also live in apartment complexes around it.

Nobody was hurt.

As the sound of interceptions reverberated through the city and evacuations began, residents of Dubai and Abu Dhabi received warnings of incoming missiles on their mobile phones.

The strikes came shortly after the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, made extremely rare public comments describing Iran as "the enemy."

Earlier yesterday, travellers sheltered in tunnels when an Iranian drone appeared to strike Dubai International Airport.

Footage on social media showed an explosion and smoke close to the terminal. A whirring sound is heard seconds before the blast in the video.

Blasts were heard in several parts of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, reports the Independent.

Travellers at the international airport, one of the world's busiest and a main travel hub through the Middle East, were ushered down into train tunnels after the alert sounded.

UAE airline Emirates later resumed operations after briefly suspending all flights to and from Dubai.

"Dubai Airports confirms partial resumption of operations from today, 7 March, with some flights operating out of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC)," a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.

The apparent Iranian attack came after the country's President apologised to neighbours in the region for striking them, declaring Iran would stop them and they had been caused by command chain miscommunications.

There were attacks yesterday in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

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- with CNN