10 years of civil war severe economic hardship
“The situation worsened after the rebels shot into the air”
At least 78 people were crushed to death as hundreds of people gathered at a cash handout event in Yemen, a Middle Eastern country in the middle of civil war.
According to foreign media such as Reuters, on the 19th, ahead of the last day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, hundreds of people gathered at a school in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, to give away cash, and at least 78 people were crushed and 73 injured. The death toll is expected to rise as the number of seriously injured is also high. They were all people who had heard that 9,000 Yemeni Rials (about 12,000 won) would be distributed per person at this event. Yemen, which has been in a civil war since 2014, is the 13th poorest country out of 191 countries in the world with a per capita purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) of $2078 as of 2021.
Witnesses claimed that the Houthi rebels who controlled the area were controlling people and that shooting into the air made the situation worse. When a telephone pole transformer was shot and exploded, panicked crowds rushed to the other side.
Footage of the incident posted on social media shows the horrific situation as people flock to the temporary stage where money and relief goods are handed out, screaming and waving their hands in the air to request help. Bodies were strewn all over the street where people had managed to escape, and piles of shoes and clothes that had lost their owners were piled up.
The Houthi rebels said they arrested two merchants who hosted the charity event and are investigating the details. It also announced that it would pay 2,000 dollars (about 2.66 million won) and 400 dollars (about 530,000 won), respectively, to families and injured people who lost their families in the accident.
In Yemen, civil war and political unrest have continued for more than eight years after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels ousted the pro-Saudi Arabian government from Sana’a in 2014. Recently, the situation has worsened as the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia has spread, and residents are suffering from extreme economic difficulties.
According to the United Nations, the cumulative death toll from the civil war reaches 150,000, and 21 million people, or about 70% of Yemen’s population, are receiving aid.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.