SANAA, Feb. 9-- The newborn conjoined twins trapped in the Yemeni rebel-held capital Sanaa died on Saturday while waiting to be transferred abroad for lifesaving surgery, Yemeni health authorities said in a statement. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said it is making "arrangments to transfer the twins from Sanaa to the kingdom as soon as possible" to receive treatment, as the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthi rebels has been blockading all civilian flights to and from Sanaa since 2017. However, Faisal al-Babily, the doctor for the twins, told Xinhua just a few hours that the hospital "has not yet received any response from the United Nations or the countries of the Saudi-led coalition to transport the boys who may die within upcoming minutes." "The twins' health has worsening and they are taking their last breath," said al-Babily, also head of Paediatrics of al-Thawra hospital where two-week-old Abdulrahman and Abdulrahim al-Haymi died. "Since the birth of the twins, we have repeated our appeals to the United Nations, international organizations and the countries of the Saudi-led coalition to immediately help allow the evacuation of the twins to any medical center abroad for urgent treatment," he lamented. Local health authorities blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the "tragic" death of the conjoined twins, appealing for international pressure on the coalition to promptly end its blockade on Sanaa airport. |