According to authorities, a crush at a school in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen occupied by rebels, occurred during a charity event for Ramadan, killing at least 78 people.
The incident started when hundreds of people crammed down a small street in the Bab al-Yemen neighborhood late on Wednesday to receive handouts of $9 (£7) from a business.
People were seen on camera yelling for assistance while others attempted to release them.
Later footage appeared to show a large number of people on the ground, along with clothing and shoes all over the stairs.
Houthi rebel movement representatives said that organizers had not coordinated with regional authorities and claimed that they had been jailed.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that erupted in 2015 after the Houthis, an Iranian ally, took over much of the country’s western region from the internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition intervened to try to restore it to power.
Two-thirds of the population, or 21.7 million people, require relief as a result of the conflict, which has reportedly resulted in more than 150,000 deaths and one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in history. Many people are unable to afford food and other necessities due to the war’s economic collapse.
After learning that a local businessman would be distributing zakat (alms) in advance of the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the conclusion of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, poor people made their way to the Maeen School in central Sanaa on Wednesday night.
