Uzbek truck drivers stranded on Iranian-Turkmen border

AKIPRESS.COM - Eleven truck drivers from Uzbekistan have been stranded on the Lutfabad and Sarahs border crossing points for 20 days over closure of the Iranian-Turkmen border to prevent coronavirus. Drivers say they live in their trucks since February 23 in a poor sanitary condition, they have run out of money, centralasian.org reported.
They can't leave their trucks carrying food products and construction materials.
A representative of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Tehran said Uzbek diplomatic missions are holding talks with the Iranian and Turkmen authorities on transit of Uzbek trucks.
Turkmenistan closed the border over coronavirus threat. The drivers were offered to leave their trucks on the customs points and fly to Uzbekistan by plane, but they did not accept such proposal, a staff member of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Tehran said.
On March 7, the trick drivers appealed to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in a video asking his help in their return.
After coronavirus outbreak in Iran and Afghanistan, Armenia, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey and Turkmenistan closed their borders since mid-February.
Around 700 truck drivers, 11 nationals of Uzbekistan among them, are stuck on the Luftabad and Sarahs border crossing points.