The US Air Force flight from Kabul to Qatar is close to the record for the largest number of people evacuated on a Boeing flight, according to the defoneone.com portal.
On Sunday night, August 15, about 640 Afghans were able to escape from the US Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster III (RCH 871).
The film shows how children and adults fled Kabul in fear of the Taliban taking over the country.
This August 15 aircraft achieved the feat of flying the C-17, a military cargo aircraft operated by the United States and its allies for nearly three decades. Inbope said the ship is designed to carry 150 passengers that can actually sit comfortably.
You may worry: panic and chaos in Kabul
Although the military aircraft did not want to exceed its load capacity, the Afghans authorized to exit quickly began to climb as soon as they noticed the plane’s half-open curve.
In the videos circulating on social networking sites, there is confusion created by people who wanted to board a plane.
Instead of trying to get the refugees off the plane, “the crew decided to leave,” a security official said. “About 640 Afghan civilians landed when the plane reached its destination,” he said.
The plane was one of several that could take off with hundreds of people on board, while others may have carried more than 640 loads, the source said. The Afghans flew from Kabul to the Al Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar, sitting on the wide grip of the plane.
This procedure is called “floor loading”, in which passengers act as temporary seat belts from wall-to-wall cargo straps.
In 2013, C-17 evacuated 670 people who survived the hurricane in the Philippines.
Panic and chaos in Kabul
The Pentagon says Kabul airport was temporarily closed on Monday as a crowd of people entered the runway. Amid the panic and chaos, everyone tried to leave the area after the Taliban captured the country.
In videos taken from the terminal, hundreds of Afghans entered the runway and tried to prevent a U.S. plane from taking off.
Meanwhile, two Afghan militants were killed by US forces as thousands tried to board planes.
In other posts circulating on social networks, you can see many people struggling to climb the walkways or stairs leading to the planes, as well as showing how some citizens fall from the air within seconds of a plane taking off.