At least 15 killed, 67 injured in explosion at gas station in Yemen

At least 15 people were killed and several others injured in an explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, health officials said Sunday.

An explosion took place on Saturday in the Zaher district of Bayda province, as confirmed by the Houthi-controlled Health Ministry. The blast resulted in at least 67 people being injured, with 40 in critical condition.

The ministry added that rescue operations are ongoing to locate individuals who are still missing. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

Online footage showed a large fire, with thick smoke billowing into the sky, and several vehicles left burned and destroyed.

Bayda is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government for more than a decade.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the U.S., in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians and combatants, and in recent years deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

With inputs from agencies.