2023-04-20 16:34:17
At least 78 people died and hundreds were injured this Wednesday in a human stampede in sanathe capital of Yemen, during a charity cast of money. This was reported by senior officials of the Houthi rebel group that controls the city, quoted by AP. Other sources speak of more than 90 deaths.
According to the authorities, the tragedy took place in a downtown school of the city, when hundreds of citizens gathered in a charity event organized by merchants who distributed donations equivalent to about 10 dollars.
Witnesses reported that armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt to control the crowd, apparently hitting an electrical cable and causing it to explode. The situation caused panic in the crowd, which tried to leave the place and caused a stampede.
The local Administration blamed the “random distribution” of funds without coordination with the local authorities, for which reason stopped two organizers of the event. The tragedy is under investigation.
Yemen has spent more than eight years mired in a civil war that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths both by violence and by hunger. The UN described the situation as “the biggest humanitarian crisis” of all the world. In this context, 58% of the population lives in conditions of extreme poverty and more than 600,000 people have lost their jobs since 2015.
The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched a operation in Yemen in 2015 in support of the then former president in exile, Abd Rabbu Mansour al Hadi, confronting the Houthis, whom Riyadh considers Iranian-backed terrorists.
This month they have advanced talks to end the conflict, which were prompted by the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, mediated by China.
Source: RT in Spanish
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