Residents of the village of Balasour in Iran found two children next to their mother’s body on the border between Iran and Turkey, foreign media outlets reported.

Several Iranian and Turkish media outlets, including CNN Turk and Iranwire, quoted officials as saying that an Afghan woman who had tried to enter Turkey illegally died of cold but her two children aged eight and nine survived.

Footage released from this rural area also shows two young children, a girl and a boy, in a state of despair due to heavy snow and cold, and locals giving them hot water and food, RFE/RL reported.

According to RFE/RL the Turkish province of Van confirmed the death of the Afghan refugee woman in a statement on Sunday evening.

The statement said: On January 1, reports of the death of a mother with her two children were made available in border areas while trying to enter Turkey via Iran. The woman’s children were rescued by locals.

It was later revealed that the death took place outside Turkey in Iranian territory in the village of Balasour. This village is located near the Turkish border. The body of this woman and her two living children were handed over to Iranian soldiers by local authorities.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry and the Afghan Embassy in Iran have not yet commented on the incident.