Huge explosion in Dubai

A pall of thick smoke hangs over Dubai after the explosion. Photo taken at 9:10am from BurJuman

A huge explosion at 8am this morning rocked the Al Quoz area of Dubai this morning sending a mushroom cloud of smoke high into the air. Typical Dubai, nobody knows exactly what has happened, some think an electricity substation has blown up, others that its a fireworks factory. One thing's for sure, the pall of black smoke is still growing over Dubai, so *something* out there is still burning. One of my colleagues who lives close by the site of the explosion (near the Al Quoz National Taxi Station behind the old Grand Mall) tells me there are a large number of factories in the area. She says that when the explosion happened the windows rattled and her room shook so much that she thought a car or truck had hit the house. She said that shortly afterwards the Police and fire service were on the scene but that visibility on the roads in the area was minimal as the smoke was so thick. The explosions, and I'm told there was one large initial explosion followed by several smaller blasts, were felt in Jumeirah where windows rattled.