Yemen: dozens dead and hundreds injured in stampede in Sanaa

Visible traces of the crowd movement that left at least 85 dead in Sana'a on April 20, 2023. AP

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At least 85 people were killed and more than 322 wounded in a stampede in the capital Sanaa, held by Houthi rebels, Houthi officials told AFP on Thursday.

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Eighty-five people were killed, and more than 322 were injured. " in a stampede during a charity event organized in the Bab el Yemen neighborhood, said a security source in Sanaa. This death toll was confirmed by an official of the rebels' medical authorities. "Women and children are among those dead," and about fifty wounded are in serious condition, said the security source, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

A video broadcast by the rebels' Al Masirah TV shows bodies piled up and people climbing on top of each other in an attempt to make their way. Some try to push their hands away from their faces so they can breathe, the rest of their bodies completely engulfed by the dense crowd, while armed fighters in military uniform try to push them in the opposite direction.

Crowd movement in a school

The crowd movement, which comes a few days before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, took place in a school in the Old City district, where hundreds of people had gathered to receive financial aid, according to testimonies collected by an AFP journalist. Some of them claim to have heard gunshots that they say provoked the crowd movement.

The victims of the stampede, one of the deadliest in a decade, were taken to nearby hospitals and organizers arrested, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the rebel news agency Saba. The statement did not specify the number of victims, saying only "dozens of deaths following a stampede during a chaotic distribution of sums of money by some traders".

The families of the victims gathered outside the hospital, but security forces prevented them from entering, while rebel officials went to the scene, an AFP journalist said. The chairman of the rebels' Supreme Political Council, Mehdi Mashat, announced the "creation of a commission to investigate the causes of the accident," according to Saba.

World's worst humanitarian crisis

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has been devastated since 2014 by a conflict between the Houthis, rebels backed by Iran, and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.

The war has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, amid epidemics, lack of clean water and acute hunger. More than three-quarters of the population depends on dwindling international aid.

(

With AFP)

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