At least 85 people were killed and hundreds injured in a crush at a Ramadan cash handout in Yemen yesterday in one of its worst tragedies in the nation just as optimism was growing over its civil war.
Three people were detained over the stampede in Sana’a, Yemen’s rebel-held capital, after large crowds gathered at a school to receive gifts of 5,000 rial (US$20) for the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Footage screened by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels’ Al-Masirah TV showed a tightly packed crowd screaming and shoving, unable to move, while others attempted to haul stricken people out of the crush.
Photo: Reuters
Other shots showed dead bodies on the ground as the panic continued.
Afterward, piles of abandoned sandals, clothing and a crutch littered the scene, while an investigator in white protective gear collected material.
“It was a huge crowd. They fell on me, and I got hurt,” an injured child told Al-Masirah from his hospital bed.
A Houthi security official speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters that at least 85 people were killed and “more than 322” injured, 50 of them seriously.
“Women and children were among the dead,” the official said.
A health official confirmed the toll.
The tragedy came just ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a major Muslim festival, and punctures a buoyant mood over the war in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, following peace talks and an exchange of nearly 1,000 prisoners last week.
The Houthis, who seized Sana’a in 2014, are fighting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that intervened in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall the ousted government.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed by the war’s direct or indirect causes, and millions pushed to the brink of famine.
However, momentum is growing for a truce and peace process, with Saudi Arabia and the Houthis holding talks last week.
Eyewitnesses said that gunfire sparked a stampede after crowds gathered at the school in Bab al-Yemen District to receive handouts from a businessman.
Reporters could not verify the reports of gunfire.
The head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, blamed “overcrowding,” saying that people were packed in a narrow street leading to the school’s back entrance.
Once the gates opened, the crowd streamed into a tight staircase leading to the courtyard where the distribution was taking place.
“Citizens were informed a week ago that sums of money would be disbursed without ID verification,” one witness said. “People flocked in a huge way, the gate opened, and with the large numbers, the stampede happened.”
The Houthis’ political chief Mahdi al-Mashat said that a committee had been formed to investigate, while a Houthi security official said that three people had been detained on suspicion of involvement.
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