A Heart-Breaking Death

Mohammed Salim

November, 15, 2021 

Dina Hayel Majlis (7 years), the youngest daughter in her family, lives in a in Al-Khokha, Al-Hodeidah Governorate, with her parents. At the beginning of the school year, she left the village and went to the city of Khokha to settle in her sister’s house. She and her niece, Umniah Fakhri Rassem (7 years old), joined the first grade in the May 22 Complex Primary School.

On the morning of Monday, February 17, 2020, the two girls – as usual – went to school with other girls from the neighborhood, carrying school bags on their backs with passion for learning.

At 11 a.m. the school day ended, and about 40 meters away from the school, while the girls were flocking back to their homes, a military squad vehicle affiliated to the 9th Giants Brigade (following UAE- backed Joint Forces in the West Coast) came rushing as usual, and did not wait or slow down, since it was in the vicinity of a school. It hit the two girls and then rammed them under the tires.

Dina, the little girl whose head was smashed and crushed, died instantly. As for the little girl, Amina, she was also hit in the head, but she died seven minutes later. The smiles painted on the bags they carried on their backs did not guard these two little schoolgirls from death.

The driver of the vehicle looked at the two girls after he ran over them, and fled, leaving them to fight death. The two girls were rushed to the Field Hospital in Al-Khokha, but to no avail. They were dead bodies and their school uniforms were replaced with grave shrouds.

 

“After the truck ran over my daughter and my sister-in-law’s daughter and ran away, I did not expect that they were dead, but when I arrived at the hospital, I looked at my daughter. She was covered in blood and saw the impact of the bump on her face. As for Dina, her head was cracked and her face was unrecognizable. I was shocked.”

 

Muhammad Fakhri, the father of the victim Umniah, said: “After the truck ran over my daughter and my sister-in-law’s daughter and ran away, I did not expect that they were dead, but when I arrived at the hospital, I looked at my daughter. She was covered in blood and saw the impact of the bump on her face. As for Dina, her head was cracked and her face was unrecognizable. I was shocked.”

The girls who were at the scene were terrified and frightened from what they saw in front of their eyes, and stopped going to school.

 

“In my life, I went through many bad and sad situations, but I have never cried or grieve throughout my life, like I cried and grieved during this disaster. The death of one of your kids is not like the death of anyone else, for the death of a child burns the heart.”

 

The grieving father added: “In my life, I went through many bad and sad situations, but I have never cried or grieve throughout my life, like I cried and grieved during this disaster. The death of one of your kids is not like the death of anyone else, for the death of a child burns the heart.”

Going to school was what connected the two girls the most to the future and to life in the midst of a war that every day closes a new window of hope.

In a moment of arrogance, a military vehicle caused another dream to die in its cradle.