Mass displacement or migration

At least 17 Afghan migrants, including women and children, died from severe thirst while attempting to cross into Iran through a remote border area in southeastern Iran, according to the human rights organization Haalvsh.
Haalvsh said the incident occurred on Thursday, September 10, in the Mak-Sookhteh area near the Routak border crossing in Saravan County, Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. The group reportedly became stranded in an arid border region without access to water during the journey.
The organization said the bodies of the victims were transferred to a morgue in the nearby city of Khash after authorities reportedly lacked sufficient capacity in Saravan. Videos published by Haalvsh showed people digging multiple graves for the victims, although the organization said it could not independently verify all details of the footage.
According to the report, five of the victims belonged to the same family from Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan. They included a 45-year-old mother and her four daughters, aged 22, 18, 16 and 14. Relatives of the family live in Saravan, where funeral prayers were expected to be held.
Haalvsh also reported that at least six children under the age of 14 were among the dead. Witnesses and relatives told the organization that the migrants suffered extreme dehydration after running out of drinking water while crossing the border.
One relative said the men traveling with the group became separated from the women and children during the journey. The women and children then continued across the desert without adequate access to water, where several collapsed and died within a short distance of one another.
Families said they were still trying to recover, identify and bury the victims four days after the incident. Haalvsh said information about the identities of several other victims and the exact circumstances surrounding the deaths remains under investigation.
The incident comes amid continued reports of Afghan migrants attempting irregular crossings into Iran through dangerous desert routes, often relying on smugglers and facing extreme heat, dehydration and other life-threatening conditions along the border.