Ta'anit 22a recounts (in the g'mara) a story of R. Beroka b. Haza'ah and Eliyahu ha-Navi in a marketplace in Be Lapat, which a note in my Soncino translation says is in Khuzistan. R. Beroka asks Eliyahu if anybody in this market merits a place in Olam Haba and Eliyahu says no, but he later amends this to identify three people who do, two jesters and a jailor who at great risk protects Jews from harm by gentiles.
From the details of the story it's clear that there is at least something of a Jewish community in this place (the jailor is a secret Jew who reports to the rabbis what the gentiles are decreeing against them). The mishna in Sanhedrin 10:1 says that all Israel has a place in Olam Haba except for a very few (enumerated). So what's going on in this market?
Is Be Lapat populated by those few Jews who really don't merit a place in Olam Haba? (Including R. Beroka?)
Maybe there are plenty of Jews there who merit Olam Haba but they avoid the market for some reason?
Maybe Eliyahu is being uncharacteristically harsh?