CAIRO – A fire broke out Sunday at a detention center for migrants in the Yemeni capital, Sana, killing at least eight people and seriously injuring more than 170 others, the United Nations migration agency said.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clarified, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 90 migrants are in serious condition and the death toll could rise much more, according to the Houthi rebels who run the center.
The Houthi, who have controlled the capital since the start of the conflict in Yemen more than six years ago, said civil defense teams had put out the fire and that investigations are underway to determine the cause.
A UN official said the fire started in a hangar near the center’s main building, which housed more than 700 migrants. Most were arrested in northern Sada province while trying to cross into Saudi Arabia, she said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to inform the media.
“This is just one of the many dangers that migrants have faced in the last six years of the Yemen crisis,” said Carmela Godeau, regional director of the International Organization for Migration.
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route, despite Yemen’s continuing fighting. Tens of thousands of migrants, desperate to find jobs as maids, servants and construction workers, try to cross Yemen every year to the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf.
About 138,000 migrants embarked on the arduous journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2019, but last year that number dropped dramatically, to 37,000, because of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,500 migrants arrived in Yemen from Djibouti in January, according to the migration organization.
These migrants are vulnerable to abuse by armed trafficking groups, many of whom are believed to be linked to armed groups involved in the war. This month, at least 20 migrants died after smugglers threw 80 overboard during a trip from Djibouti, East Africa, to Yemen, according to the migration agency.