Kabul airport
Social-media footage apparently showing people clinging onto a jet leaving Kabul airport on August 16, 2021.
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  • People clinging to jets leaving Kabul airport have fallen to their deaths, local media reports.
  • There are scenes of chaos at Kabul airport as crowds stormed the runaway and tried to enter planes.
  • The Taliban seized back control of Afghanistan in a rapid effort that overwhelmed Afghan forces.
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People have fallen to their deaths after clinging to C-17 jets taking off from Kabul airport, in an attempt to flee the Taliban in Afghanistan, local media reported.

Footage posted on Twitter by the Afghan news agency Aśvaka appeared to show a person falling from a plane as it took off from the airport.

Other photos – which Insider is not publishing due to their graphic nature – depict the bodies of people who had reportedly fallen onto the roofs of buildings in the Afghan capital from planes they attempted to stowaway on.

"Locals near Kabul airport claim that three young men who were holding themselves tightly in the tires of an airplane fell on top of people's houses. One of the locals confirmed this and said that the fall of these people made a loud and terrifying noise," the agency tweeted.

Other footage, apparently taken on the runway of Kabul airport, showed people attempting to cling onto a jet as it taxied down the runway.

The Afghan news channel TOLO also tweeted footage of a large crowd running alongside a jet on the runway as it tried to take off.

Insider has not independently verified the footage.

The incidents come amid scenes of desperation and terror at Kabul airport, as crowds of people attempting to flee the country swarmed onto runways in an attempt to board planes.

US troops evacuating American citizens fired warning shots on Monday, as airport security was overwhelmed.

Witnesses told Reuters that five people were killed as crowds attempted to forcibly enter aircraft preparing to depart. It was unclear whether the people were killed by gunfire or in a stampede.

Earlier on Monday, all international commercial flights from the airport were canceled, as the government of Afghanistan collapsed and the Taliban swept back into power.

Some nations, including the UK and Germany, are continuing to evacuate citizens and Afghans whom they had approved for asylum.

Read the original article on Business Insider