After the episodes of human avalanches in Pakistan, the result of desperation to get hold of charity food during Ramadan, yesterday Wednesday it was the turn of a country truly at war. At least 78 people were crushed to death last night in Yemen, in a delivery queue and more than a hundred have been injured.
The tragedy occurred in the old part of the capital, Sana'a, under the control of the rebel Houthi government, where a wealthy merchant made religious merit by distributing free food to break the day of fasting and small sums of money.
The Al Tharwa hospital in Sana'a began receiving wounded after sunset, victims of the stampede. According to the Houthi authorities, among the 139 injured, 13 are very serious.
The spokesman for the Houthi Interior Ministry, General Abdul Khaliq al Ajri, has washed his hands of it, blaming the merchants for failing to coordinate with the authorities. Two of them have been arrested.
A tragic stain on the last stretch of the Muslim holy month, ultimately the first in almost a decade with real hopes for peace in almost a decade in Yemen, following negotiations in the capital between Saudi envoys and the rebel government. These led last Friday to the exchange of around nine hundred prisoners, transferred on planes of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Something that motivated many emotional scenes of reunion and gave a boost to the pacification efforts.
Until now, the reasons that caused the panic and stampede are unknown, in a city that since 2015 has been bombarded countless times by the Arab coalition aircraft led by Riyadh. In a video released by Al Masira, people are seen trapped under the weight of a rampaging crowd, in an alleyway in the old city.
