Aftermath of stampede. AP.
At least 78 people died and 77 were injured in a stampede in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa.
The
tragedy occurred as hundreds of people gathered at a local school to
receive cash handouts from merchants during the last days of the holy
month of Ramadan.
- Video footage released by local television shows shouting and screaming as the crowd was jammed together.
- People panicked after armed Houthis (members of the Islamist group that controls much of Yemen) tried to manage the crowd by firing guns into the air, reports the Associated Press, citing two witnesses.
- Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and detained two merchants who helped organize the event.
- A civil war that started in 2014 has caused a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries.
- Over 150,000
people have died in a conflict that escalated in 2015, when a Saudi-led
coalition intervened in response to Houthis ousting Yemen's government.
- The conflict is widely viewed as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
- An expired U.N. brokered truce reduced the fighting for a year and Houthis are in talks with Saudi Arabia to establish a permanent ceasefire.
