The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport when it came under attack, Reuters reports.

Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and to assess the humanitarian situation.

“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few metres from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.