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85 killed, 322 injured in Yemen stampede

People trapped in the crowd attempt to free themselves during a stampede in Sana'a, Yemen, April 19, 2023, in this still image taken from video.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in Yemen's capital due to a stampede that broke out during a charity distribution, according to the country’s Ansarullah resistance movement.

Al-Houthi health officials told AFP on Thursday that at least 85 were killed and 322 were injured following the incident in the Bab al-Yemen area of Sana’a on Wednesday night. 

Earlier, a spokesman for the Yemeni interior ministry said in a statement, "Dozens of people were killed due to a stampede during a random distribution of sums of money by some merchants."

The interior ministry statement said the dead and injured have been moved to nearby hospitals and those responsible for the distribution were taken into custody, according to the Saba news agency.

Authorities have called for an investigation.

The distribution came days ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Videos circulating on social media showed bodies lying on the ground inside a large complex as people clamored around them.

A new UN report says millions of Yemenis are now facing hunger. The UN has described the situation in Yemen as the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis,” caused by seven years of war and a tight siege launched by Riyadh and its regional allies against the poor Middle Eastern country.

Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states, launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015.

The objective was to bring back to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

The war has stopped well short of all of its goals, despite killing hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that over 25.5 million Yemenis are living beneath the poverty line due to the repercussions of the Saudi-led war in the impoverished country.

The UN migration agency announced that seven years of war in Yemen also caused the displacement of more than 4 million people in the country.


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