Heartbreaking photos have emerged showing hundreds of Afghan refugees crammed into a US cargo jet designed to carry only 150 but can take 171,000lbs of cargo.
The US Air Force C-17 Globemaster carrier plane took off with 640 refugees who managed to make it inside before the ramps shut.
But instead of forcing some people off the jet, a US defense official said the “crew made the decision to go.”
“Approximately 640 Afghan civilians disembarked the aircraft when it arrived at its destination,” the official said.
The refugees, including many young children and women, ran onto the half-open ramp moments before take-off.
Chaos and panic resulted in deaths at Kabul airport as terrified people clung to aircraft and crowded runways.
Many were crushed while others who tried to hold on to a departing plane fell hundreds of feet to the ground.
According to reports, at least eight were killed as troops tried to evacuate Western officials and aides.
Gunfire echoed around Kabul as the iron grip of the Taliban tightened despite their promise that they would operate an ‘inclusive’ rule.
On Monday, Major General Hank Taylor said that US forces are ‘actively monitoring’ the situation.
“We have approximately 2,500 troops who have moved into Kabul. By the end of the day, we expect nearly 3,000 to 3,500 troops on the ground,” he said.
The Pentagon previously said all flights in an out had been halted.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the catastrophe at the airport was not a ‘failure’ despite thousands of Afghan nationals crowding the area and US troops shooting two armed Afghan nationals dead.
“When you look at the images out of Kabul… that would have been difficult for anyone to predict,” he said.
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