ADEN, Yemen, July 14 (Xinhua) -- At least five Yemeni fishermen were killed Saturday when an explosion of a sea mine laid by Houthi rebels hit their boat in the coast near the western port city of Hodeidah, a security official told Xinhua.
"A Houthi-laid sea mine exploded, killing five fishermen while eight others survived the incident," local security source said on condition of anonymity.
The explosion destroyed a small boat carrying the fishermen in Hodeidah's coast, the security source said.
"The fishermen apparently entered an area in the sea filled with different kinds of naval mines laid by the Houthi militias," the source added.
In June, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Yamani declared in a press conference that it will take at least eight years to clear about one million landmines planted by Houthi rebels across the country.
The minister said that the Houthis also laid hundreds of improvised sea mines, threatening the international shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
Landmines and explosives laid by the Iranian-backed Houthis killed more than 1,500 people and injured about 3,000 in Yemen between 2014 and 2016, according to government reports.
The Yemeni government and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have urged the international community to take action against the militias that disturb maritime traffic in the Red Sea by planting naval mines.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.
Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Iran-backed Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
