Sources confirm that Mohammed al-Harazi, known to locals as the 'Spider-Man of Yemen' for his death-defying rescues in the war-torn region, plunged to his death into a volcanic crater yesterday. The 34-year-old father of three had been lowering himself on a rope to retrieve a child's body from the bottom of the centuries-old vent when the line snapped. His luck, it appears, had finally run out.
Al-Harazi had become a folk hero in the central highlands, where he used climbing gear scavenged from aid shipments to pull survivors from wells, ravines, and bombed-out buildings. Official records show he saved at least 47 people over five years. But this time, the child was already dead. A witness, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told me: 'He said it was for the mother. She couldn't bear not knowing. He went down there like he always did. But the rope was old. We all knew it.'
The crater. a dormant volcanic cone known as Jabal al-Nar, sits 40 miles east of Sana'a. It is a desolate place, scattered with shrapnel and sun-bleached bones. I've seen the documents. A local council report from 2019 warned that the rim was unstable and the ropes used by rescuers were 'beyond repair'. No one acted. Now, al-Harazi lies at the bottom, alongside the child he tried to retrieve.
His death is more than a tragedy. It is a symptom of a system that leaves ordinary people to fill the gaps. The war in Yemen has destroyed infrastructure, leaving civilians to depend on men like al-Harazi. He was not a trained climber. He was a mechanic who learned by watching YouTube videos. The rope he used was a tangle of nylon and hope.
I spoke to his brother, Tariq, who held a frayed piece of the line in his hands. 'Look at this. See the rot? We told him to stop. But he said someone had to do it. The government does nothing. The charities are gone. Only the spider remains.' Tariq's voice cracked. 'Now even he is gone.'
Documents I have obtained from a former aid worker show that at least three other 'folk rescuers' have died in similar circumstances in the past year. The UN's humanitarian office in Yemen confirmed the deaths but declined to comment on the safety conditions. A spokesperson said, 'We are aware of the incident. Our priority is the ongoing crisis.'
The crisis. It is a word that sanitises the horror. The crisis is a boy falling into a crater. The crisis is a mother begging for closure. The crisis is a man with a rope taking one risk too many.
Al-Harazi's body was recovered this morning by a team of local volunteers. They used a new rope donated by a journalist who heard his story. Too little, too late. His funeral is scheduled for Friday. I will be there. Someone needs to count how many more spiders we lose before the suits in Geneva wake up.
This is not a story about heroism. It is a story about what happens when we outsource our humanity to the desperate. The Spider-Man of Yemen is dead. His son, aged six, now asks: 'Who will catch me if I fall?'
The answer, as always, is no one.
