Azerbaijan skyscraper linked to Donald Trump catches fire
Hotel and flat complex was originally going to be Trump branded, but he cut ties with the project after winning the presidential election
A skyscraper in the capital of Azerbaijan that was once slated to become a Trump Tower caught fire on Saturday, burning for hours as road closures due to a Formula 1 race made it harder to put out the blaze, the Interfax news agency reported.
No one was hurt in the fire at the 33-floor business centre in Baku, Interfax cited Etibar Mirzoev, the deputy head of the Emergency Situations Ministry, as saying, adding that authorities were trying to work out what caused it.
The building, which is unfinished, was previously associated with US President Donald Trump who had agreed to turn it into a hotel and flat complex that would bear his name.
However, the Trump Organisation ended its affiliation with the project in December 2016 after Trump’s White House win.
Baku is hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix race on Sunday and Mirzoev was cited as saying that associated road closures meant that fire engines had struggled to reach the building, which is why it took more than three hours to put out the blaze.
According to financial disclosures filed by his campaign, Trump earned between $2.5 million and $2.8 million in hotel management fees from the unopened hotel.
The structure had been due to open as a business center.
Earlier this month, one man was killed and six firefighters received minor injuries in a flat fire on the 50th floor of the Trump Tower in New York.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
