KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – At least 13 Afghan migrants were seriously injured when a vehicle carrying them veered off the road and overturned in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Balochistan province on Wednesday, Iranian news outlet Haalvsh reported.
The accident occurred at around 4 p.m. local time in the Tagab area along the Khash-Iranshahr road. All 13 Afghan passengers and the vehicle’s driver sustained serious injuries, according to the report.
Some of the injured remained at the scene for about three hours because of a shortage of ambulances, Haalvsh said. Videos published by the outlet showed injured passengers being pulled from the wrecked vehicle and lying on the ground.
According to a witnesses, all 14 people in the vehicle suffered severe injuries, including multiple fractures to their arms, legs, heads and other parts of their bodies.
Thousands of Afghans, particularly young people, continue to attempt irregular migration to Iran in search of work and to support their families, despite dangerous travel routes and mass deportations of Afghan migrants.
Overcrowding is among the reported causes of traffic accidents involving vehicles transporting undocumented Afghan migrants in Iran. The vehicle involved in Wednesday’s crash was carrying 14 people, although it was designed to accommodate five passengers.
In addition to road accidents, reports indicate that dozens of Afghan migrants die each year or are killed by Iranian border guards while attempting to cross into the country.
Earlier last month, at least 17 Afghan nationals, including five women and six children, died of thirst while trying to enter Sistan and Balochistan province, according to Haalvsh. In late June 2026, the bodies of at least 19 Afghan nationals were discovered in a remote desert area between Afghanistan’s Helmand and Nimroz provinces after the group went missing while attempting to reach Iran. Taliban authorities said those victims died from extreme weather, hunger and dehydration.
