50 Afghans Found Dead in Container

QUETTA, April 4: Police found on Saturday 50 bodies and 60 unconscious Afghans crammed and locked inside a truck container in Hazar Ganji on the outskirts of Quetta. All the victims, who were of Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara origin, were trying to illegally enter Iran to go to Europe via Turkey, but died during the journey because of suffocation.

Wazir Khan Nasar, the Deputy Inspector General Police, told Dawn that according to initial information, the truck container was coming from Spin Boldak, a town in Afghanistan, and used unfrequented routes in Balochistan to cross into Iran. He said that agents, after having failed in repeated attempts to cross into Iran, brought the vehicle to the outskirts of Quetta. “The driver of the truck container parked the vehicle inside the Hazar Ganji Truck Adda on Saturday evening and escaped in car after seeing bodies and unconscious Afghans.”

Rohullah, a witness, told Dawn by telephone that as the driver escaped, shopkeepers and truck drivers gathered and informed the police, who opened the container and found 50 bodies and 60 unconscious Afghans.

Talking to Dawn, one of the victims, Mulook Khan, said “we wanted to go to Europe to escape joblessness and extreme poverty in many parts of Afghanistan”.

Another victim, who could not tell his name, told Dawn “we had to travel on foot for several kilometers before boarding the container mounted on a truck”. He said the container had no hole for air ventilation and he soon fell unconscious because of suffocation and heat.

Survivor Nizar Ahmed, 15, told AFP from hospital that he came from the province of Baktia in eastern Afghanistan. “We have all come from Afghanistan and we were going to Iran,” he said, without being able to explain why they were bound for the Islamic republic, or when they left home.

Local inhabitants and police realized there were people inside when they heard sounds coming from within the container, police said. Television footage shot shortly after the white container was opened showed dozens of bodies, many of them stripped to the waist, lined up on the road next to the truck.

Source: Pakistan Dawn