At least 17 people were injured in a fire that ripped through a luxury hotel near Dubai's tallest tower Thursday hours ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations, the UAE government said.

"At least 14 people have been slightly injured, along with one medium injury, and a heart attack case registered due to people pushing" amid the smoke, Dubai's government media office had earlier tweeted.

It added that no children were among those hurt.

There have been no [serious] injuries in the fire that broke out earlier Thursday at the luxury hotel The Address in Dubai, the general director of the Dubai Civil Defence had earlier told Al-Arabiya TV channel.

" There are no injuries, thank God.. of course, it will not affect the celebration", Reuters quoted Major General Rashed Al-Matrushi as saying to Al-Arabiya.

Al-Matrushi told Al-Arabiya - Al-Hadath TV station that the fire was 90% under control an hour before New Year's celebrations were set to start.

"We have a tight evacuation plans and advanced fire-fighting capabilities," Al-Matroushi said in reference to success in the evacuation operation of the packed hotel as well as thousands of residents in adjacent buildings.

Earlier on Thursday evening, a huge fire had broken out in the 63-story luxury hotel The Address near Dubai's massive New Year's Eve fireworks display.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which ran up at least 20 stories of the building near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper at 828 meters (905 yards).

Burning debris rained down from the building as firetrucks raced to the scene. It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded in the blaze.

Dubai planned to wow spectators with three separate firework displays. The show was to begin at the Burj Khalifa, which organizers said was fitted with 400,000 LED lights. They said 1.6 tons of fireworks would be used in the display.

From there, the fireworks were to light up the sky around the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and later down near the Dubai Marina. Fireworks also will be on display in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the country of seven emirates.