In Yemen, more than 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a crush at a charity distribution event following one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade.
The latest tragedy to strike the country came days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, when hundreds of people had gathered at a school in capital Sanaa to receive cash handouts of 5,000 Yemeni Rials, around eight dollars.
Huthi security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Women and children were among the dead as a result of the stampede.
The Huthi-run interior ministry said the dead and injured have been relocated to hospitals, and those responsible for the event arrested.
Video broadcast by Al Masirah TV channel showed a cluster of bodies packed together, with people climbing on top of each other to try to make their way through.
Many had their mouths covered by other people’s hands, the rest of their bodies engulfed by the dense crowd. Armed men in military garb and distribution workers screamed at the crowd to turn back as they tried to pull people out of the crush.
According to the head of the Huthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohamed Ali al-Huthi, “overcrowding” caused the stampede.
Eyewitnesses, however, said that gunfire caused people to rush in a panic. After the stampede, families converged on hospitals but many were not allowed to enter as top officials were also visiting the dead and wounded.
More than eight years of civil war in Yemen has unleashed what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian tragedies.
The conflict began in 2014 when Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year to prop up the internationally recognised government.
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