Last Updated: April 20, 2023, 11:12 IST
Footage showed corpses strewn across the complex, which was littered with sandals and scraps of clothes after the stampede was cleared. (Screengrab)
Yemen Stampede: Videos showed a cluster of bodies lying on the road on top of each other, with people climbing over the corpses to try to make their way through
More than 85 people have died and hundreds injured in a stampede at a charity distribution event in Yemen on Thursday, in one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade.
The incident comes just a few days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday celebrated around the world by feasting to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Hundreds of people in the poverty-hit country had gathered at a school in the capital Sanaa to receive cash handouts of 5,000 Yemeni Rials (around $8).
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Videos on social media showed a cluster of bodies lying on the road on top of each other, with people climbing over the corpses 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 with sirens glaring in the background.
At least 76 were killed & 66 others were injured in a stampede during the distribution of financial assistance in Sanaa, Yemen 🇾🇪It started when Houthi militants fired at people gathering to receive financial assistance, causing a stampede that resulted in dozens of casualties https://t.co/asLRGd68ig pic.twitter.com/8Hq9jEyVXN
— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) April 19, 2023
Other videos showed corpses strewn across the complex, which was littered with sandals and scraps of clothes after the stampede was cleared.
The videos also showed ambulances rushing to collect the victims and ferry them to the hospital.
According to officials, the stampede was caused by overcrowding as people were packed in a narrow street leading to the school’s back entrance. Eyewitnesses said that gunfire caused people to rush in a panic.
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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.
But more than two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the UN, including government employees in Huthi-controlled areas who have not been paid in years.
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