Top of luxury hotel explodes in flames!
BEIJING, China - February 9, 2009 - A massive fire engulfed a newly constructed, unoccupied luxury hotel in central Beijing on Monday night as crowds watched a nearby fireworks display marking the end of Lunar New Year celebrations.
The cause of the blaze at the 40-story Mandarin Oriental is not known and there were no reports of injuries, according to CNN staff members who were at the scene. The fire began about 9 p.m. and continued to burn an hour later.
A plume of flames shot from the top of the structure as the fire quickly spread.
iReporter Jean de Villeneuve lives about 200 yards (200 meters) from the fire and said she watched it for about an hour before firefighters got it under control. De Villeneuve, who is originally from France, said she was surprised at how close spectators were allowed to get before authorities established a perimeter.
"I looked and saw the huge tower full of fire, and there were hundreds of Chinese down near my apartment taking pictures," she said. "If this had been the United States, you would think a perimeter would be secured, but there was nothing like that."
Ed. Note: Yep. Any minute that sucker will collapse just like the Twin Towers and WTC-7. Any minute. Any minute now. Yessir. Any minute now. Gonna come right down. NOT!!
