Aden airport resumes flights days after bloody attack

MENA

Published: 2021-01-03 19:06

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 14:42


Photo: Arab News
Photo: Arab News

 Aden airport, in the south of Yemen, resumed flights Sunday after an attack Wednesday that killed at least 26 people. The attack appeared to be timed for when members of the new Yemeni government arrived.

A Yemeni Airways plane arrived at Aden airport Sunday afternoon, coming from Khartoum.

The airport building appeared free of glass shards and scattered debris after it was shaken by at least two explosions Wednesday.

A number of travelers wore masks to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, while many did not abide by the rules of social distancing or even wearing masks.

The attack, the nature of which has not yet been confirmed, left at least 26 people dead, including three members of the International Red Cross, a Yemeni journalist and an assistant to the Minister of Public Works.

No ministers were harmed.

Dozens of people were also wounded, and video footage showed some of them on the ground covered in blood.

One Yemeni youth, Muhammad Ali, felt comfortable flying into Aden instead of Seiyun airport in Hadramawt governorate in central Yemen, which would have increased him at least ten hours of travel.

"We shortened the time and the feeling was indescribable," he said.

"The airport has returned to work and things are going very smoothly," Adel Hamran, a media official at Aden Airport, told AFP.

The Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen carried out "emergency" rehabilitation work at the airport, according to a tweet.

The tweet stated that the rehabilitation work included "preparing the site, removing rubble, preparing hall floors, and completing a set of electrical, sanitary and logistical works."

The war in Yemen, which has left tens of thousands dead and wounded since 2014, is being fought mainly between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and other forces led by pro-government groups with support from a Saudi-led military coalition.

But the forces that are supposed to be loyal to the government in the south, where power is concentrated, include pro-secession factions from the north, led by the Southern Transitional Council, and accuse the government of corruption and fighting with them.

Saudi Arabia has worked for more than a year to form the new government to end the differences and devote itself to fighting the Houthis, who are close to controlling Marib, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, which is adjacent to the Kingdom.