SANAA, Mar 21 (NNN-SABA) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels said yesterday, three tear gas bombs, fired by their riot forces, are the cause of the deadly fire, that broke out earlier this month, inside a migrant detention centre in Sanaa, and killed at least 45 African migrants.
There were a total of 862 African migrants in the seven-ward migrant detention centre, and the accident took place on Mar 7, in Ward No. 1, which hosted 358 of the detained African migrants, according to the Houthi-controlled interior ministry’s statement.
The ministry said, riot forces were called in to quash a riot, after a hunger strike of the detained African migrants spiraled out of control.
“The riot forces then fired three tear gas bombs. One of them fell in a mattress that caused the fire and killed 45 African migrants,” the Houthi-controlled authorities said, adding that, they have arrested 11 soldiers of the riot forces for causing the accident.
Last week, the Houthi authorities said, they buried in a mass grave in Sanaa, a total of 43 dead detained migrants who were killed in the fire.
The International Organisation of Migrants (IOM), in a statement, has urged the Houthi authorities to allow its staff in Sanaa, to access the centre and the hospitals to provide health assistance to the fire victims.
The Yemeni government accused the Houthi rebels of committing “a genocide against the African migrants in Sanaa,” calling for an international probe into the fatal fire at the detention centre.
According to the IOM, Yemen remains a transit country for tens of thousands of migrants, travelling between the Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia, despite years of war.
The organisation estimated that the number of migrants arriving in Yemen fell from more than 138,000 in 2019, to just more than 37,500 in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
