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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish villagers in northwest Iran were finally able to recover the bodies of five kolbars who had been buried under the snow for a week following an avalanche in Turkey, villagers told Rudaw English on Monday.
Makum Ahmadi, a resident of Kuran village in Iran's West Azerbaijan province, told Rudaw English that three of the dead kolbars were found around noon. The other two were found later in the day.
"All five bodies have been recovered but it will take the villagers four hours to bring them to the village," he said.
Bilend Ahmadi, Matin Aslani, Yawar Aslani, Furat Khedri, and Molayee Khodayee were among 12 residents of the village who were buried in an avalanche in Turkey’s Van province on January 18. Eight died and three survived.
The villagers were reportedly smuggling cigarettes across the border.
The office of the Governor of Van denied that an avalanche took place in the province in a statement last Monday, saying they had sent a search team to the area to investigate the incident.
Kuran, home to around 200 families, is surrounded on three sides by mountains, a small river dissecting it into two. In the near distance stand both Iranian and Turkish border observation posts.
The village has gained a reputation for the large number of kolbars killed by both Turkish and Iranian border guards.
Last year, two brothers Shamzin and Arsalan Ahmadi were shot and killed by Iranian and Turkish border guards within two months of each other.
Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport goods on their backs across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border, often in treacherous conditions. Many are pushed into the profession because of poverty, which is particularly rampant in Iran’s Kurdish areas.
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