ZURICH — The head of the World Health Organisation said on Friday (Dec 27) he was not sure he was going to survive an air strike carried out by Israel a day earlier during a series of attacks on the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

Speaking after his ordeal at the Sanaa International Airport on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the explosions that rocked the building were so deafening that his ears were still ringing more than a day later.

Tedros said it quickly became apparent the airport was under attack, describing people "running in disarray" through the site after approximately four blasts, one of them "alarmingly" close to where he was sitting near the departure lounge.

"I was not sure actually I could survive because it was so close, a few metres from where we were," he told Reuters. "A slight deviation could have resulted in a direct hit."

Tedros said he and his colleagues were stuck at the airport for the next hour or so as what he thought were drones flew overhead, feeding concern they could open fire again. Among the debris, he and colleagues saw missile fragments, he said.

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