.webp)
Two Dead and Three Injured in Mine Explosion
Similar to other cities in Yemen, the city of Hays lacks public or private recreational spaces. Consequently, the children and young people of Hays have taken it upon themselves to create their own makeshift playgrounds on patches of unused land. Every day, from afternoon until sunset, they engage in games of football on these dirt plots.
These dirt football playgrounds, though never intended for such use, serve as the only recreational areas for children and young people in the city. Unless one witnesses the ball rolling and amateur players chasing after it, it would be difficult to discern that these grounds are used for football. In reality, they are nothing more than agricultural lands, owned by local farmers and stretching along the city borders in all directions. Unfortunately, playing on these lands can be likened to venturing into a field of death.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 14, 2023, over twenty children were engrossed in a football match on one of these makeshift fields located east of the city of Hays in Hodeidah governorate. The match was underway, and the field was brimming with enthusiasm, laughter, and youthful vigor. Little did the children know that they were playing on a ground harboring a hidden killer.
At approximately 5 pm, during the course of the game, the ball veered off the field and one of the players went to retrieve it. The referee blew the whistle, signaling a throw-in to resume play. It was at this moment, when Yacoub leapt into the air to receive the ball with his head, that death lurked beneath his feet. That single jump served as a dividing line between life and death.
Ahmed Hamed, a 13-year-old eyewitness, recounts, “When the ball went out of bounds, one of the players threw it in to resume the game. Suddenly, a mine exploded, and a cloud of dust rose into the air. I witnessed Yacoub and Mofeed being propelled into the sky by the blast. Yacoub’s body was torn into unrecognizable pieces. Rushing to Mofeed, I found him with only the upper half of his body intact. He gasped for breath momentarily before succumbing to death.”
He adds, “Fear, terror, and dread permeated the area. The once lively playground had transformed into a grotesque exhibition of dismembered body parts. Yacoub Nazhan Faisal, a 13-year-old child, had been torn apart. Mofeed Mohammed Razzah, a 10-year-old boy, had been blasted into the air, his body cleaved in two. The remaining portion of his body struggled to breathe momentarily and succumbed to death.”
Radwan Saleh Ahmed, a 13-year-old who sustained injuries, recounts, “Abdulmallek went to lift his friend Mofeed. As soon as he grabbed Mofeed’s hand, it was severed. Abdulmallek, gripped by panic, fled the playground, as did the other children. Eventually, some young men who were playing nearby rushed to the scene, collecting the victims’ remains and placing them in plastic bags and children’s shirts, before transporting them to the hospital.”
Ali Qasem Ahmed Hassani, a 19-year-old witness, adds: “When Mofeed was being transported on a motorcycle to the hospital, his father was running towards us. The sight of his child, with only half a body, caused him to collapse to the ground, weeping… Yacoub’s remaining body part was taken back to his family as a single severed piece of flesh, while Mofeed’s body, wrapped in a black plastic bag, was returned to his family.”
This incident has caused immense pain among the residents, resulting in the loss of two lives, and three injured, and leaving lasting mental scars on the more than twenty children who were present. That starkly illustrates the devastating consequences of war, as it abruptly extinguishes lives and wreaks havoc within an instant.
It is worth mentioning that the children residing in Hays district, situated in the southern region of Hodeidah governorate, have been deprived of playing football for nearly five years, as the lands they use as playgrounds are located in frontlines, in close proximity to the positions held by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis), who stands accused of planting mines in these areas. Following the withdrawal of the Ansar Allah forces from the area, a demining team cleared hundreds of mines.
