A horrifying video footage has emerged that shows an Afghan caught in the landing gear of a C-17 after clambering on to the plane as he is crushed to death between the wheels. The chilling incident happened amid the chaos of evacuation flights in Kabul as guns and body armor are being dumped at the airport.
In the footage, the man can be seen hanging from the side of the plane and it was reported that the crew later found his body in the landing gear after making an emergency landing. Some 640 Afghans were seen crammed into a C-17 jet fitted to carry only 150 soldiers on Monday, with several seen falling from hundreds of feet and dying as the plane took off.
Spine-Chilling Video
The video appears to have been taken from a porthole in the rear door of a C-17 military plane. The gory footage shows the man's legs protruding from the wheel arch and failing against the side of the plane as it cuts through the air.
Initially no one noticed the man, at least not the crew. The man till then had been struggling and after a few minutes he was crushed to death. The discovery was made when the crew struggled to close the landing gear. The flight, which was US bound, then made an emergency landing in a third country, according to the Washington Post.
However, the man's body was mangled by that time. American officials later confirmed that human remains had been found in the wheel well of a C-17.
The footage is just the latest sickening image to emerge amid the chaos in Kabul after at least three people plunged to their deaths from the side of the same American C-17 transport that took off from the city's airport on Monday in a desperate bid to escape the wrath of the Taliban militants which has taken control of the country.
Everything in Utter Chaos
Sporadic shooting was heard throughout Monday and into Tuesday as thousands remain stranded and clueless about how to move out of the war-torn country. In a separate footage military weapons, gear and vehicles that have been abandoned by soldiers hastily forced to evacuate the country to flee the Taliban can be seen.
Social media users have been sharing innumerable footages of the chaos in Afghanistan with the world helplessly watching. On Monday other footages showed Afghans running alongside a C-17 as it prepares to take off with around a dozen holding on to the wheel bay.
Images taken from the ground show stowaways clinging to the plane as it took off. Harrowing videos also captured the stowaways falling several hundred feet to their deaths after being thrown from the plane as it took off from Kabul airport.
Two of those who died are believed to aged 16 and 17 and video posted later appeared to show residents collecting their bodies.
According to reports, at least 40,000 are still trying to flee from the country, including 30,000 US diplomats, visa holders and Afghans they have promised sanctuary, 4,000 Britons and an unknown number of other westerners including Spanish, French, Germans and Poles.
The US has so far flown at least two C-17 cargo jets out of Kabul and more flights are expected later this week but in between no one knows how many such innocent lives will be lost.
