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Bloody Accidents Ambush Fuel Transporters in Southeast Borders of Iran

 

NCRI – Fuel Transporters in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan (Southeast of Iran) are faced with the threats of death, injury or blasting of their vehicles or fuel tankers.

Widespread unemployment has led many graduate students to sell fuel at the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to make a living. Fossil fuels are bought and sold in Sistan and Baluchistan along these borders.

Along with Colbari (porterage) in the west and northwest of Iran, fuel transport by non-standard vehicles is another significant burning phenomenon seen in the southeast Iran.

Smuggling and non-standard fuel transfer create bloody incidents, which are generally due to drivers’ rush to transport fuel as quickly as possible and to escape from the eyes of the Iranian regime’s security forces.

State-run ILNA news agency compared fuel transporters in southeast Iran with Colbaran (Porters carrying goods on their back) in the Kurdish region, western Iran, and writes that they have done the same and do these works to escape poverty and hunger and make a living: “Colbaran lose their lives by being shot in the cold weather, and fuel transporters are kill with their body half burned down after (the security forces) fire shots at their fuel vehicle.”

In an interview with ILNA news agency, some of these fuel transporters mention a corner of the tragedies and fatal accidents they are faced with.

One of them is an electrical engineer. He says: “We buy fuels mostly from trucks coming to our province. They either transport fuel or sell fuel of their own vehicles. We buy diesel at 180 Toman ($0.2) per litre and sell for 200 to 205 Toman to Afghans. On average we earn between eighty to one hundred thousand Toman a day.”

This electrical engineer says if they give him a proper job, he will quit fuel transport right away and adds: “It is our way of life, we are either killed by the patrols firing shots at us because we are smuggling fuel, or we are taken to prison, or the car overturns and blasts for any reason including firing bullets, and we burn in fire.”

Another fuel transporter whose vehicle was overturned and his spinal cord severed is now staying at home. He says: “I had to go to the doctor but I did not have any money. I sat at home so much that the rotten smell of my legs filled the house, and my legs eventually turned into two dry woods.”

He wished a workshop or factory was built in the village and said: “If a factory was established around this area to get young people engaged, then our situation would be very different. If we had water, we would start farming. If there was a way, we would escape this situation. I had no choice but to transport fuel.”

Most of the cases that led to overturn, vehicle fire, dead, or injuries were due to their pursuit by security forces and patrols firing at the vehicles or their drivers.

Fuel transporters have to transport oil, gasoline and diesel fuel in “non-transitory” impassable roads to make a living, and the security forces shoot them without warning. Firing bullets in some cases cause a fuel explosion which results in the transporter’s death or burning and severe injuries.