The Heartbreaking Story of Kurdish Father Who Lost Two Sons in Mountains
Society, Economy New Blog, Kodoom.com:
Last week, Othman Khosravi, an Iranian kurdish man with poor eyesight had to embrace, for the last time, the frozen bodies of his two teenage sons who lost their lives in the mountains trying to earn a meager living for the impoverished family.
Othman's sons, Azad and Farhad, were Koolbars (human load carriers) stuck in an avalanche. The younger son, Farhad, 14 years of age, had rescued himself but died after deciding not to leave his older brother (the skinnier, less muscular of two) alone in the snow and trying to save him.
Koolbar means "Back Carriers" in Persian and it refers to human carriers transporting heavy loads of legal or contraband merchandise, such as alcohol, across hard-to-pass mountainous regions of Kurdistan sprawled between Iran and Iraq. Some Koolbars accompany mules which also carry loads to the same destinations.
Being a Koolbar is an extremely dangerous job as load carriers face border snipers, landmines, severe weather, rebels and armed militants as well as natural hazards associated with the rugged natural terrain. Many Koolbars choose the exhausting job due to high unemployment rates in border regions.
An estimated $7 billion worth of merchandise is smuggled into Iran annually through Koolbars and other cross-border passengers.
Pictures shown here are from Koolbars in the Hooraman region of Iran.
In his 2000 film "A Time for Drunken Horses," exiled Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi masterfully captured the nomadic and grueling lives of some Koolbars in Kurdistan.
Following the death of Azad and Farhad, Iran's Parliament is reviewing a bill to prevent Iran's border patrol firing direct shots at Koolbars.
Related:
In Pictures: Koolbars, The grueling lives of human load carriers in Kurdistan
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