[google-translator]
In another striking image, 640 Afghans were seen jammed into a US cargo plane. The photo went viral on various social media platforms, which showed the fear among people as the Taliban returned to power in the country after nearly two decades.
Picture credit: US Defense Department/Defense One
Picture credit: US Defense Department/Defense One
The picture obtained by US defence and security news site Defense One is believed to show 640 people packed into a C-17 Globemaster III.
The flight was one of several that was able to take off with hundreds of people aboard.
JUST IN: “The Crew made the decision to go” — Inside RCH 871, which saved 640 from the Taliban … from @TaraCopp a… https://t.co/Nlx2aT1DhW
— Marcus Weisgerber (@MarcusReports) 1629144854000
Inside a US transport taking off from Kabul. Extraordinary. https://t.co/rAAeFb2QQb
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) 1629147357000
Flight from Kabul aboard a US transport taken just hours ago… https://t.co/XosxzEG4rM
— Doug Aldeen (@AldeenDoug) 1629167741000
This picture joined the harrowing video that showed two stowaways falling to their deaths from a transport aircraft taking off at Kabul airport.
The two people hanging on to the wheels of an aircraft as it took off from Kabul Airport could be seen falling to their deaths from the air. They fell several hundred feet from the C-17 transport plane as thousands of desperate Afghans try to flee the victorious Taliban.
Viral video: Is this the defining moment of the US’ exit from Afghanistan?
As the Taliban took control of Kabul, terrified Afghans crowded onto the Kabul Airport tarmac as all commercial flights were canceled.
The stampede at Kabul Airport has already left seven people dead with more people clambering over walls to get in.
In chaotic scenes echoing the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war, petrified men, women and children were filmed trying to get on aircraft after the Taliban stormed the capital.