Afghanistan Crisis: Two fall off Plane, Some Huddled On Aircraft Wing In Kabul
Three persons allegedly held on to a wheel of a US plane flying out of Kabul and are seen falling to their death in one of the multiple videos showing insane attempts by Afghans to escape Taliban rule.
A video of stowaways looking like dots dropping from the plane was shared by many, including Tariq Majidi of TOLO News, who wrote: “Three Kabul residents who were trying to leave the country by hiding next to the tire or wing of an American plane, fell on the rooftop of local people. They lost their lives due to the terrible conditions in Kabul.”
In more videos from Kabul, a crowd swarms the airport runway, chasing a US Air Force plane, and a group is seen huddled on a wing of a plane taxiing before take-off.
Increasingly distressing videos showed the mayhem in Afghanistan after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban on the weekend, and the desperation of thousands trying to flee the city.
At least five people were killed in the airport as people crowded the tarmac and tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the Afghan capital. It is not known whether they were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.
Mobs, including women and little children, started gathering outside the Kabul airport last night, determined to get away after the Taliban entered the presidential palace and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Many were seen this morning trying to scale the walls and squeeze through barbed wires.
US troops fired warning shots into the air to prevent crowds running onto planes.
Some of them grabbed aircraft wheels and wings, as videos suggest.
American forces are running the airport as they try and evacuate their staff and close Afghan allies. But terrified residents of Kabul raced to the airport with their belongings, without permits or visas, hoping to catch any flight out.
In the downspiral, Afghanistan’s air space was closed. Flights from the US, which were already in the air, had to divert to refuel in the Middle East.
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