Nearly 4,000 people were evacuated from a 532-unit building that caught fire in Dubai in June.
The incident, which resulted in no major injuries, showed that the building had an average of seven people living in each apartment, which are one-, two-, and three-bedroom flats. Previous deadly fires involved partitioned units targeted at low-wage foreign workers.
Dubai is cracking down on overcrowding. But the city’s expensive rents leave service workers earning $300 to $550 a month with few options. An Egyptian man, among several workers interviewed by The Associated Press, said he pays $270 a month for a closet in a two-bedroom apartment shared with nine others, and is now being forced out. His plight is shared by many in a city increasingly catering to the wealthy.