Chilling CCTV footage has emerged showing the exact moment a Houthi missile struck Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, October 10, killing 13 people — including an Indian national — and wounding more than 300 in what reports describe as the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in more than a decade.
The footage: a flash, then panic
The footage, obtained by Al Arabiya, is a compilation of CCTV angles from inside the terminal. Dozens of passengers — including Umrah pilgrims preparing to board their flights — are seen waiting near the gates when a bright orange flash erupts. Within seconds, parts of the ceiling appear to cave in, debris crashes to the floor, and scores of people clasp their hands over their heads as they scramble for safety through dust and falling chunks of roofing.
Saudi state television also aired the footage, showing passengers waiting at a gate when the sudden blast sent them running in panic. The video surfaced online on October 11 and spread rapidly, drawing attention to the human cost of a campaign that has now hit Riyadh's main airport four times in five days. One widely shared AI-generated clip purporting to show the attack has been debunked by fact-checkers — the authentic footage is the Al Arabiya CCTV compilation.
The human toll: 13 dead, more than 300 wounded
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation initially reported 12 dead and 309 wounded. The death toll rose to 13 on Sunday after the Indian Embassy in Riyadh confirmed that an Indian citizen wounded in the strike later died. The other victims included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Sudan. Some of those killed were reportedly traveling for Umrah, adding a particularly tragic dimension to the attack.
The Houthis claimed responsibility. On Sunday, in a televised speech, the group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had also targeted King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and two facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco, and warned airlines, travelers, and workers to avoid Saudi airports, calling them "a theatre of operations for our forces."
Airport shut down after repeat strikes
The strikes did not stop on Saturday. On Sunday, an unidentified projectile hit Terminal 4, starting a fire that left a Pakistani resident dead and 11 others wounded, according to Saudi civil aviation authorities. Earlier that day, Saudi air defenses intercepted a cruise missile in the airport's vicinity and a ballistic missile launched toward Khamis Mushait.
The repeated attacks forced authorities to suspend operations at the kingdom's busiest airport until at least late Sunday, leading to the cancellation of more than 600 flights. On Monday morning local time, the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed no movement at the airport, and the British embassy in Riyadh warned UK nationals to avoid it. Emergency alerts were issued in Abha early Monday, though Saudi Civil Defence later said the danger had passed.
Takeaway
The new footage strips away any abstraction from the casualty figures: ordinary travelers and pilgrims caught in a flash of light and collapsing concrete. With the airport still shut, regional flights suspended, and the Houthis openly threatening to keep targeting Saudi transit hubs, the escalation has moved from a distant conflict to a direct threat to civilian aviation in the Gulf — and the coming days will test whether defenses, diplomacy, or deterrence decide what happens next.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0