women help relative with cholera yemen
© Khaled Abdullah / ReutersWomen help a young relative infected with cholera at a hospital in Sanaa.
A cholera outbreak in Yemen has claimed the lives of 115 people, while some 8,500 others are suffering from the infection, medics say. The number of patients is currently overwhelming Yemen's hospitals.

The outbreak of the waterborne disease is the second Yemen has suffered in less than a year.

"We now are facing a serious outbreak of cholera," Director of Operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross Dominik Stillhart told a news conference in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Sunday.

Citing figures compiled by Yemen's Health Ministry, he reported that 115 people had died of cholera between April 27 and Saturday. This is a dramatic jump from the death toll of 51 cited by the World Health Organization earlier on Thursday, marking a rapidly worsening situation.


Stillhart said hospitals could not accommodate all of the patients, with up to four people seeking treatment per bed.

"There are people in the garden, and some even in their cars with the IV drip hanging from the window," he said.

Cholera outbreaks are symptomatic of the dire conditions in Yemen, which is suffering from a two-year-old civil war and a transport blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, which is supporting one side in the conflict.

trash in yemen
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
The blockade is hampering the delivery of crucial humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine, while Saudi airstrikes have contributed to deterioration of civilian infrastructure, such as water treatment plants. The UN says 17 million people in Yemen are at imminent risk of famine.