Conjoined twins die in Yemen after appeals fail

CONJOINED twin boys born under blockade in Yemen nearly three weeks ago died on Saturday after attempts to secure their evacuation for potentially life-saving treatment failed.

The health ministry said the twins’ deaths reflected the humanitarian situation faced by Yemen’s children as a result of the civil war, according to a statement carried by the Houthi-run Saba news.

Abdelkhaleq and Abdelkarim were born in Houthi-controlled Sanaa, at a hospital woefully underequipped after years of bombardment and blockade by the Saudi-led coalition.

The twins’ doctors had begged for them to be evacuated to a hospital equipped to give them life-saving treatment.

However, Yemen’s airspace is controlled by the Saudi-led coalition and, following Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, no civilian flights have taken off from Sanaa since 2015. The only flights permitted in and out are those operated by the United Nations.

Despite offers from a Saudi organisation to provide the needed medical care, no way around the blockade was found.