ERBIL — A Kurdish woman who had been stranded on the borders between Belarus and Poland for weeks, died on Friday night at a Polish hospital while her husband and five children were kept away in a camp.
Avin Irfan Zahir, 38, from Zakho district of Duhok province, fell sick due to dehydration and extremely cold weather. She was later admitted to a hospital on November 11 in Hajnówka district, near the border with Belarus.
When she arrived at the hospital, she had already lost her baby, and she was in a critical condition, medical staff at the hospital said.
Her husband and five other children were kept by Polish authorities apart at a camp outside the town.
Avin died on Friday night despite doctors working hard to save her life.
She had arrived in Belarus earlier in November to join thousands of other people attempting to cross the western EU borders into Poland. She made it to the other side of the border, but the ordeal at the forests had already killed her child.
A doctor supervising the treatment team at Hajnówka hospital said Avin had carried the dead baby for 20 days, and this had caused severe infections in her body.