According to a report by The Guardian, a stampede that occurred on Thursday in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, claimed at least 85 lives. The AFP news agency was informed by a Houthi security official that more than 322 people were hurt during the stampede.
Social media videos showed victims stacked up in the streets as rescue workers worked to find any survivors. (The following video should only be viewed with care as it contains potentially upsetting imagery.)
According to two witnesses who saw the incident, the crowd was startled when armed Houthis fired into the air to try to subdue them, and the bullet impacted an electrical line and caused it to explode. The gunfire's terror allegedly caused the stampede, according to the witnesses.
As bodies pressed up on one another and they were trapped with nowhere to go, people started pulling each other out.
The attack on Thursday was the bloodiest in the nation in recent memory that was unrelated to its protracted war. The tragic occurrence occurred a few days before Eid al-Fitr, the celebration that celebrates the completion of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The shoes and other items of those who were hurt or killed in the stampede were left behind, and the scene of the catastrophe was covered in them.
Two organizers had been detained, according to the Houthi-run interior ministry, and an investigation was ongoing. The "random distribution" of monies without consulting local authorities was the ministry's excuse for the stampede.
Shocking images of the stampede that killed 78 people in #Sanaa #Yemen pic.twitter.com/OrfFNP0AUy
— Sami AL-ANSI سـامي العنسي (@SamiALANSI) April 20, 2023
Breaking: 79 people killed and 110 injured after a stampede in a school in Sanaa, Yemen where poor people gathered to receive charities during Ramadan.
— World Times (@WorldTimesWT) April 20, 2023
📽️@SaadAbedine#Yemen pic.twitter.com/f0ti65IUQB
