A striking new photograph shows 640 Afghans packed tightly into a U.S. plane leaving Kabul in a desperate bid to escape the Taliban.
The photo, from national security publication Defense One, captures the Air Force evacuation from Kabul to Qatar.
The Afghans were all evacuated safely, even though the crowd nearly topped the record for the most people ever flown in the Boeing aircraft, a military cargo plane which has been in service for nearly three decades.
The plane, C-17, belongs to the 436th Air Wing and is normally based in Delaware.
Its crew had not intended to take so many passengers but panicked Afghans had pulled themselves on the aircraft’s half-open ramp, according to one official.
The official said “the crew made the decision to go†rather than attempt to force off the excess passengers, and was only able to count the travelers when they all disembarked.
The Afghans sat on the floor of the plane’s hold, hanging onto cargo straps on the walls as makeshift seatbelts.
It was just one of several planes which took off with hundreds of passengers from Kabul – the anonymous official told Defense One that some may have carried a load even larger than 640 people.
Disturbing videos also circulated online on Monday showing people clinging to the outside of departing aircrafts in Kabul airport, with some still holding on even after takeoff and ultimately falling to their deaths. At least seven people died in the chaos.
Kabul airport is one of the few places in the country which is still controlled by U.S. troops meaning it has become a key escape route.
The Taliban have torn through Afghanistan in a matter of days, filling the power vacuum left by the U.S. troops who pulled out of the country after spending 20 years fighting the so-called “war on terror.â€
More than 600 Afghans – women, men, children and the elderly – sitting packed on the floor of a cavernous United States military plane, part of a dramatic airlift hours after Kabul fell to the Taliban.
The now-viral image, obtained and posted by the respected military news site Defense One, was taken inside a US Air Force C-17 transport.
The Afghans crammed in the giant cargo hold on the Sunday (Aug 15) night flight were among those approved for evacuation by US authorities, according to the site.
The interior of a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, on Aug 15, 2021. (File photo: Reuters/Defense One handout)
The US military said that about 640 Afghans were on board.
But such a large number on one flight was not planned, a US official told Defense One – many climbed onto the half-open ramp at the back of the plane in desperation.
“The crew made the decision to go” rather than force them out, the official said.
It came as Taliban fighters flooded the streets of Kabul, with panicked citizens rushing to the airport to try and find a flight out of Afghanistan.
“The unusually high number of passengers aboard this aircraft … was the result of a dynamic security environment that necessitated quick decision-making by the crew,” US Central Command spokesperson Karen Roxberry said in a statement.
It “ultimately ensured that these passengers were safely taken outside the country”.
Among the people visible in the photo is a small child holding a feeding bottle in the lap of a woman. Several other people are seen holding small children.
Hardly any belongings are visible among the passengers, except a small suitcase and a backpack in the foreground.
The flight – which Defense One said had the call sign Reach 871 – landed in Qatar in the early hours of Monday, according to the tracking website FlightAware.
The US military did not specify the destination.
This C-17 was not the only one to take so many Afghans out of the country – Defense One cited the US official as saying that several planes took off from Kabul with similar numbers.
It is also not the first time Boeing C-17s – workhorses of the US Air Force transport fleet – have been used for such a large evacuation.
In 2013, a US C-17 flew out more than 670 people from the eastern Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.
In its usual configuration, a C-17 carries about 100 troops with equipment.
CHAOS, DESPERATION
There have been desperate and chaotic scenes at Kabul airport, where the apron and runway were flooded on Monday by thousands of people hoping to get a flight out of the country.
Many were not eligible for evacuation flights and did not have tickets on commercial flights or even visas.
In harrowing videos shared on social media, hundreds of people are seen running next to a C-17 as it appears to gather speed, some clinging to the sides of the plane.
In another, attack helicopters are seen flying low near the crowds in an apparent attempt to clear the runway for an aircraft.
Afghan media reported that several people died after falling from planes as they took off.
One person died in the landing gear well of a C-17 that took off from Kabul, the Washington Post and Politico reported. AFP
