CAIRO – A fire broke out on Sunday in a detention center for migrants in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. At least eight people were killed and more than 170 others injured.
According to the International Organization for Migration, the cause of the fire is not immediately clear. According to the Houthi rebels who run the center, more than 90 migrants are in a serious condition, and the death toll could climb much higher.
The Houthi, which has controlled the capital since Yemen’s conflict erupted more than six years ago, said civilian defense teams had put out the blaze and that an investigation had been launched to determine its cause.
A UN official said the fire broke out in a hangar near the main building of the center, which houses more than 700 migrants. Most were arrested in the northern province of Sada while trying to cross Saudi Arabia, she said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to inform the news media.
“This is just one of the many dangers facing migrants in Yemen over the past six years,” said Carmela Godeau, regional director of the International Organization for Migration.
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen were a popular trek route despite the ongoing fighting of Yemen. Tens of thousands of migrants, desperate to find work as housekeepers, servants and construction workers, try to find their way across Yemen to the oil-rich Persian Gulf states every year.
Some 138,000 migrants undertook the difficult journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2019, but last year the number dropped drastically to 37,000 due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the migration organization, more than 2,500 migrants from Djibouti reached Yemen in January.
Those migrants are vulnerable to abuse by armed trade unions, many of whom are believed to be linked to the armed groups involved in the war. According to the migration agency, at least 20 migrants died after smugglers threw 80 overboard during a trip from Djibouti in East Africa to Yemen.