[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday, as hundreds gathered in a school to receive aid, according to witnesses and Houthi media.
Several people were injured, including 13 in critical condition, according to Al Masirah TV, a television news outlet run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, citing Sanaa’s director of health.
The stampede occurred during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of Ramadan, according to a statement issued by the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior.
Hundreds of people crammed into a school to receive the donations, which totaled 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, according to two witnesses involved in the rescue effort.
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Houthi television posted a video on the Telegram messaging app showing a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security personnel fought to push people back and keep the crowd under control.
Another video after the stampede showed scores of discarded shoes, a crutch and clothing on the steps of the building, and forensic investigators in protective white suits sorting through personal belongings.
The two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway, the interior ministry said.
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Yemen has been embroiled in an eight-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands, destroyed the economy, and forced millions to starve.
After the Houthis overthrew the government in the capital Sanaa in 2014, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015. The conflict has been widely interpreted as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The stampede, according to Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, was caused by Yemenis experiencing “the worst global humanitarian crisis” after eight years of fighting.
“We hold the aggressor countries accountable for what happened and the bitter reality that the Yemeni people face as a result of the aggression and blockade,” he said on Twitter.
In March, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to restore diplomatic ties that had been severed in 2016, and prisoner exchanges between the two sides this month have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict.
Yemen’s Houthi movement’s top negotiator said recent peace talks with Saudi Arabia had made progress and that more talks would be held to iron out remaining differences.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
