Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The warehouses contained aid including fuel and mattresses

A fire has destroyed large quantities of UN food and other humanitarian supplies in war-torn Yemen.

It broke out at a storage facility run by the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Red Sea port of Hudaydah.

Four warehouses holding 50 tonnes of food are said to have been destroyed. They also contained fuel and mattresses for displaced people.

The cause of the blaze is unclear. The Yemen conflict has killed about 10,000 people over the past three years.

In 2015, an assault by Houthi rebels on the city of Aden prompted a Saudi-led multinational coalition to launch a military campaign.

The UN has referred to the conflict in Yemen as "the world's worst humanitarian crisis" with more than 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

In November last year, the Saudi-led coalition allowed aid deliveries to the port of Hudaydah and Sanaa airport following urgent UN appeals.</s>A fire has broken out in warehouses containing humanitarian aid in the Yemeni Red Sea port of Hudaydah.

The blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, has destroyed food supplies and fuel, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said.

Four warehouses were reportedly engulfed in flames as thick plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky.

The port of Hudaydah receives critical aid for victims of the Yemen conflict, which has killed about 10,000 people.

An estimated 50 tonnes of foodstuff was destroyed in Saturday's fire, AFP news agency reports.

Workers said the warehouses also contained a large number of mattresses that were meant for those displaced by the war.
• Yemen conflict: Who is fighting whom?

In 2015, an assault by Houthi rebels on the city of Aden prompted a Saudi-led multinational coalition to launch a military campaign.

The UN has referred to the conflict in Yemen as "the world's worst humanitarian crisis" with more than 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

In November last year, the Saudi-led coalition allowed aid deliveries to the port of Hudaydah and Sanaa airport following urgent UN appeals.</s>Witnesses raised the alarm at about 1200 (CET) on Saturday, March 31.

Thick plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Port workers said they believed the blaze was sparked by an electrical fault.

The port handles the bulk of Yemen's imports including critically-needed food and aid supplies.

A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson said large quantities had been lost in the fire.

The three-year war in the country, which was already the Arab world's poorest, has pushed it to the verge of famine.</s>A fire has broken out at storage facilities for the World Food Programme in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida in Yemen.

The official SABA news agency quoted Yemen's minister of local administration Abdel-Raqeeb Fatah as saying that the fire caused severe damage to relief and humanitarian aid held inside the warehouse.

It is not immediately clear how many facilities were engulfed in the fire, or what caused it.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war pitting a Saudi-led coalition backing an internationally-recognised government against the Iran-backed Shia rebels, known as Houthis, since March 2015.

The rebel-held port of Hodeida is a vital lifeline for most of Yemen's population, which depends on the port for aid deliveries.</s>A fired ripped through a warehouse of the UN's World Food Programme on Saturday in Yemen's rebel-held Red Sea port of Hodeida, destroying humanitarian aid supplies, authorities said.

Hodeida is Yemen's largest port and a lifeline for people in the war-battered country dependent on food imports and, according to the United Nations, on the verge of famine.

The Saba news agency of the Huthi rebels reported a "massive" blaze and said large quantities of aid was destroyed, without giving further details.

An official in Hodeida told AFP that four warehouses were engulfed in flames and estimated that 50 tonnes of foodstuff was destroyed.

An official from Yemen's internationally recognised government urged UN agencies deployed in the country to investigate the blaze.

Abdel Raguib Fateh, who was quoted by the state-run Saba news agency, also implicitly accused the Huthis of responsibility, saying the "criminals behind this fire should be punished".

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in the country in March 2015 to push back the Huthis who captured the capital Sanaa and forced the government into exile.

Around 53,000 people have also been wounded since then.

The United Nations says the conflict has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, as 22.2 million people need aid and 8.4 million are on the verge of famine.

Yemen, which depends on food imports, is also struggling with cholera and diphtheria outbreaks.</s>Firefighters try to extinguish a fire engulfing a warehouse of the World Food Programme in Hodeida, Yemen, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

ADEN, Yemen — A fire broke out at the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeidah early on Saturday, destroying warehouses filled with cooking fuel and foodstuffs, port workers said.

They told Reuters that, as of 1100 GMT, fire trucks had not been able to put out the blaze in the warehousing area, which they said appeared to have been caused by an electrical short circuit.

Reuters television footage showed thick plumes of smoke rising into the air and fire fighters dousing flames.

Hodeidah Port, on the Red Sea, handles the bulk of Yemen’s imports, including critically-needed food and aid supplies. The three-year war in the country, which was already the Arab world’s poorest, has pushed it to the verge of famine.

“The fire destroyed huge amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid and foodstuff,” a UN World Food Programme employee told Reuters by telephone, adding that there would be an investigation to determine the cause.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency reported the fire at the port, but did not mention the cause.

Workers said the warehouses also contained hundreds of thousands of mattresses meant for those displaced by the war, which has killed more than 10,000 people and crippled the economy. The United Nations says that three out of four Yemenis — 22 million civilians — need relief aid.

A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government that was forced into exile by the Iran-aligned Houthis.

Late year the coalition, under international pressure, eased a three-week blockade imposed on Yemeni ports and airports in November in response to a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward the Saudi capital, Riyadh.</s>March 31 (UPI) -- A fire on Saturday broke out in four World Food Program warehouses in the Hodeidah port of Yemen destroying a lot of the food and humanitarian supplies.

"The fire destroyed huge amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid and foodstuff," a WFP employee said in PressTV report, adding that an investigation would take place to determine the cause of the fire.

The four warehouses contained 50 tons of food, according to a BBC report, along with cooking fuel and mattresses for people displaced in the war in Yemen, which has killed about 10,000 people in thee years.

The conflict has raged on since March 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation to restore Yemen's internationally recognized government, and defeat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The United States, Britain and France support the coalition of eight Arab countries.

Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the Arab world even before the conflict broke out, according to the WFP.

With millions of people starving and a cholera outbreak amidst the conflict, the United Nations has called Yemen the "world's largest humanitarian crisis."

Back in November, the Saudi-led coalition announced it would allow rebel-held ports in Hodeidah and Sanaa airport to accept humanitarian aid, following international outcry.

However, Paolo Cernuschi, country director for the International Rescue Committee in Yemen, said that the move to lift the blockade for humanitarian aid did not go far enough.

"Humanitarian aid alone cannot meet the needs of Yemenis who are unjustly bearing the brunt of this war," Cernuschi said.</s>A "huge" fire has broken out in Yemen's rebel-held Hudaida port, destroying large quantities of aid supply.

The blaze on Saturday engulfed warehouses full of cooking fuel and food supplies belonging to the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP), the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported.

"The fire destroyed huge amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid and foodstuff," a WFP employee told Reuters news agency, adding that there would be an investigation to determine the cause, which remained unknown.

Some port workers said it might have been triggered by an electrical fault, while others blamed negligence.

"Had the fire been controlled from the beginning, it wouldn't have reached this extent," said Mohammed Ghalleb, a guard of a storage facility.

"By sunrise, the fire was huge, warehouses were burning, and the fire was expanding and spreading from store to store."

Abdul Rahman al-Faqih, director of public relations of the Hudaida Civil Defence Branch, said: "Maybe negligence was the cause of the fire. Security and safety procedures were not at the required level, despite the existence of stickers and logos detailing safety measures."

Hudaida port, situated on the Red Sea, handles the bulk of Yemen's imports, including food and aid supplies.

Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, has been wracked by violence since the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 after a coalition of Arab countries assembled by Saudi Arabia launched a massive bombing campaign aimed at rolling back their advances.

A three-year civil war in the country has led to massive food shortages and the "worst recorded cholera outbreak", according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN, which calls Yemen the "world's worst humanitarian crisis", says 22.2 million people are in need of aid, while 8.4 million are on the verge of famine.

In November 2017, the Saudi-led coalition eased a three-week-long blockade on rebel-held parts of Yemen, following an international outcry.

However, rights groups warned that the spectre of mass famine would continue to loom over Yemen.</s>Fire breaks out at World Food Program warehouses in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A massive fire broke out on Saturday and engulfed storage facilities belonging to the World Food Program in the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Hodeida damaging humanitarian aid inside, Yemen's official news agency said.

Yemen's minister of local administration, Abdel-Raqeeb Fatah, was quoted by SABA news agency as saying that the fire destroyed much-needed aid deliveries inside the facilities and called for an investigation.

The port of Hodeida, under the control of Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, is vital lifeline for most of Yemen's population, which depends on the port for food and medicine.

Footage obtained by The Associated Press shows firefighters trying to extinguish the fire which sent clouds of heavy black smoke into the sky. It was not immediately clear how many facilities were damaged by the fire or what caused it.

"We have contained the fire and tried to not let it expand to other facilities as the area includes factories, companies and storage facilities belonging to businessmen and other organizations," Abdul-Rahman al-Faqih, public relations director of the civil defense Hodeida branch, said. "It (the fire) may have been caused due to negligence."

Mohammed Ghalleb, a guard for a storage house in the area, said he saw some light smoke at around dawn but initially thought it was caused due to waste burning.

"Had the fire been controlled from the beginning, it wouldn't have reached this extent," he said.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war pitting a Saudi-led coalition backing an internationally recognized government against the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The coalition aims to restore the government of self-exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

The three-year stalemated war has damaged Yemen's infrastructure, crippled its health system and pushed it to the brink of famine. The country is now the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance. Malnutrition, cholera and other diseases have killed or sickened thousands of civilians over the years.</s>Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising from a World Food Program storage building in Yemen following a major fire. Rough cut (no reporter narration).Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising from a World Food Programme storage building in Yemen following a major fire. Rough cut (no reporter narration).
A fire destroys four World Food Programme warehouses in Hudaydah, Yemen, which contained 50 tonnes of food as well as fuel and mattresses.