The Dangerous Lives of Baluch Fuel Carriers

April 27, 2023

Photo Blog

Fuel porters resort to carrying their merchandise by hand when the roads are too difficult to navigate by vehicle

Typically, each vehicle transports around 2,000 liters of fuel, which is unloaded at the Pakistani border

Fuel carriers drive at a speed of up to 220 kilometers per hour and use smoke devices to evade security forces

An estimated 3,000 donkeys died while transporting fuel to Pakistan between 2013 and 2016

Carriers at the border zero point after delivering fuel and receiving payment in Pakistan

12-year-old Aslan fills fuel tanks

Police opened fire on this vehicle, causing the vehicle to catch fire and resulting in the death of the driver

Fuel carriers return to Iran at nightfall

The fuel is unloaded at the border with Pakistan before being transported through the mountains on donkeys

Approximately 10,000 donkeys were used to transport fuel to Pakistan between 2013 and 2016

Many young men in the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, which is home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluch minority, resort to transporting fuel to Pakistan to make a meager living. They are called “fuel carriers” (sookhtbar in Persian), although the government refers to them as “smugglers” and treats them no better than terrorists. Dozens of fuel carriers are fatally shot or injured by Iranian security forces every year. This selection of pictures gives a glimpse of these men’s difficult and dangerous lives.