KABUL: The bodies of 14 Afghan nationals attempting to enter Iran have been recovered from a desert area in southwestern Afghanistan, officials said.
According to foreign media reports, authorities had been searching for the missing individuals for several weeks. The group had reportedly travelled towards Iran by vehicle, but after the vehicle broke down, they continued their journey on foot.
The search operation in Nimroz province began after the vehicle driver reached a village in a severely dehydrated and exhausted condition and sought help.
Initially, five bodies were recovered, after which authorities launched a search for the remaining migrants who had continued travelling on foot through the desert.
Nimroz is considered one of Afghanistan’s hottest and driest regions, where temperatures currently remain around 45 degrees Celsius, making the journey extremely dangerous.
Local hospital sources said the bodies of the 14 migrants were found buried in sand on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Afghan authorities have vowed to continue action against human trafficking. Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani said officials were actively pursuing operations against human smuggling networks.
More read, Mass migration into Spain leaves dozens dead at Ceuta border
Earlier, Nearly 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in one of the largest mass migration attempts in recent years, with at least 34 people reported dead during the crossings, according to Spanish authorities.
Foreign media reported that thousands of migrants attempted to enter Ceuta by both sea and land routes. Spanish officials said the fatalities occurred during the mass attempt to cross the border, while authorities continued to manage the large influx of arrivals.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the incident as a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty.
He accused human trafficking networks of encouraging illegal migration by misrepresenting a recent ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court.
Sánchez said Spain was accelerating the repatriation of migrants who entered Ceuta illegally and thanked Moroccan authorities for their cooperation in managing the situation.
