Accusations of the Houthi militia of setting fire to the bodies of 350 African immigrants
English - Wednesday 10 March 2021 الساعة 02:09 pm
Sanaa, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
The Houthi militia closed the sixth and seventh floors of the Republican Hospital in Sana’a, on Tuesday, March 9th, and imposed strict control over the hospital, to which more than 150 African immigrants were transferred, injured in the fire of their detention center at the Passports Authority.
Medical sources in Sanaa hospitals, who spoke to (NewsYemen), expected that the number of fire victims would rise to more than 100, noting that the refrigerators of the Republican Hospitals, Al-Thawra Al-Amma, and Kuwait received about 20 charred bodies due to the fire.
On Tuesday, March 9, dozens of African community members demonstrated in Sanaa in front of the United Nations High Commissioner, demanding the disclosure of the circumstances of the fire, which, according to them, affected the bodies of about 180 African refugees, and the demonstrators accused the Houthi militia of setting up the fire because (the refugees refused to go to the fighting fronts).
On Monday, March 8, the Houthi militia detained a number of representatives of local and international organizations who wanted to visit the fire-wounded in Sanaa's hospitals, and estimate the extent of human damage, and the Houthi militia released dozens of African workers in these hospitals and prevented visiting the wounded.
While the Houthi militia is trying to prevent the leakage of any information about the size of the victims and the circumstances of the fire, the International Organization for Migration said that nearly 900 migrants, most of them Ethiopians, were in the detention center.
It was ndicated, in a statement, that 350 of those were inside the hangar where the fire broke out, and that 170 injured were still receiving treatment, including many in critical conditions.
In addition, an Ethiopian newspaper said, on Tuesday, that there are no survivors among the more than 350 Ethiopian immigrants in Yemen, as a fire broke out in a detention center run by the Houthis in Sanaa.
Addis Standard newspaper quoted activists in the Ethiopian migrant community in Yemen as saying that "there are no known survivors among the more than 350 Ethiopian immigrants, most of them were inside the detention center that burned." They added, "The fire in the detention center was not an accident," accusing the Houthi militia of setting it ablaze.
Activists on social networks broadcast shocking videos of scenes of charred bodies piled on top of each other, interspersed with the scenes of distress and sad cries of Africans believed to be wounded among the victims.
