According to media reports, over the past nearly nine months, at least 66 fuel porters have lost their lives in road accidents in Iran. A large portion of these fatalities occurred on roads in the southern part of Sistan and Baluchestan province.
The state-run Ham-Mihan newspaper reported in its Sunday, December 14 issue that from the beginning of Persian months of Farvardin until mid-Azar of the current year (from March 20 to early December), the identities and deaths of 62 fuel porters on roads in southern Sistan and Baluchestan were recorded, nine of whom were teenagers.
According to Ham-Mihan, these figures do not include fuel porters traveling on roads in southern Kerman, Minab, Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, and other roads in southeastern Iranian provinces, and when these cases are included, the death toll in less than nine months reaches at least 66 people.
Ham-Mihan cited “widespread school dropout” in Sistan and Baluchestan province as one of the factors contributing to the spread of fuel portering, writing that in some villages, teenagers enter fuel portering from the ages of 12 to 14.
Citizens in Baluch-populated regions of Iran have for years been forced into fuel portering due to the collapse of agriculture, economic poverty, widespread unemployment, and the lack of job opportunities. This is a high-risk occupation that exposes them to shootings, chases, and deadly road accidents.
The state-run Mehr news agency wrote on December 7 that following a collision between a fuel-carrying vehicle and a passenger car on a road in Kerman, 13 members of a fuel-porter family lost their lives.
Danesh Dadollahzehi, a secretary and social activist in Iranshahr, told Ham-Mihan newspaper that the primary reason children, teenagers, and young people turn to fuel portering is that the job is very accessible to them and the fuel price difference between Iran and Pakistan is very large.
He continued by saying that one of the main problems is the devaluation of the national currency: “That child who does fuel portering says, I spend one week, prepare a load of diesel, and earn 200 million rials. Some people take the load directly to the border, and others transport it over shorter distances and deliver it to depots.”
The social activist added: “Whereas a civil servant with a master’s degree and an official job, with experience like mine—19 years—earns about 250 million rials (approximately 195 dollars). That child says if I become a clerk or laborer, I will earn 190 to 200 million rials per month (approximately 150 to 156 dollars), while on the other hand I can earn 800 to 1,000 million rials per month (approximately 625 to 780 dollars); for this reason, he accepts that risk.”
Ham-Mihan also pointed to the dangers posed by fuel-carrying vehicles for other citizens and reported accidents in which, in addition to fuel porters, occupants of other vehicles have also lost their lives.
On November 9 as well, following a collision and fire involving two fuel-carrying vehicles on the Sarbaz–Mehrestan route, at least four Baluch citizens, including one teenager, lost their lives.
The Baluch Activists Campaign reported in March 2025 that over the past seven years, at least 1,010 fuel porters in Baluch-populated areas of Iran have been killed or injured as a result of shootings by military forces or their pursuits.
