A STAMPEDE at Kabul Airport has left five people dead as thousands storm planes in a desperate bid to flee Afghanistan.
In scenes echoing the sudden 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
Stampede at Kabul Airport as thousands storm runways in desperate effort to get last flights out of Afghanistan
Credit: Twitter
People waiting with suitcases near Kabul Airport’s runway
Afghan citizens are doing all they can to flee the country
Credit: Twitter
A US helicopter swooping across the runway to clear a way for a plane to take off
Desperate Afghanis climb stairs in a bid to get onto a plane at Kabul airport
Desperate people were filmed trying climb up a ladder to get on a plane while others were seen being pulled on board another aircraft.
One witness said he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle at the airport.
At one stage, US troops guarding the airport were forced to fire shots into the air but it’s unclear if those who died were hit by bullets or crushed in the stampede.
At one stage, US Apache helicopter gunships swooped down across a runway to clear desperate people trying to board a transport aircraft.
Residents of Kabul today woke up to their first day under Taliban rule with reports the hardliners were scouring the city looking for military vehicles.
In a bid to flee what they fear will be a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule based on an extreme interpretation of Islam, people raced to the airport in a frantic bid to board a flight.
Another clip showed what were apparently US embassy staff attempting to flee by pulling each other into a plane while the ramp was being raised.
And a third video showed over a thousand citizens attempting to board a KamAir flight to Istanbul which can only carry 300 passengers.
Footage showed people pushing and shoving as they make their way through the overpacked aisle of the plane which is already over capacity.
The shocking scenes in Kabul come as…
- Taliban stormed Afghanistan’s Presidential Palace after ripping through Kabul
- Boris Johnson blamed the US for Afghanistan’s ‘accelerated’ collapse to the Taliban
- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he fled to ‘prevent a flood of bloodshed’
- UK ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow to remain at Kabul airport to help Brits leave
- It comes as NATO this evening revealed that all commercial flights are now suspended from Kabul airport.
According to Reuters, only military aircrafts will now be allowed to operate.
By Sunday night, members of the Taliban members declared that they had been “victorious” in a statement.
In the live broadcast one insurgent said he had spent eight years in Guantanamo Bay.
Now Boris Johnson has blamed the US for the advancement of the Taliban in Afghanistan, claiming President Biden “accelerated” their control.
The Prime Minister said the “difficult” situation had been exacerbated by the President’s decision to withdraw troops from the war-torn country.
Earlier today Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country after the Taliban stormed the capital Kabul and seized his palace.
Mr Ghani later said he left to “prevent a flood of bloodshed”.
Ghani, who did not say where he had gone, said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind.
Taliban fanatics have released 5,000 prisoners and taken control of Kabul as the government dramatically collapsed on Sunday.
Shocking video shows people pulling each other onto an aircraft as the ramp rises
Credit: Twitter
A Chinook helicopter flies over the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan
Credit: AP
Taliban fighters on the streets of Kabul
Credit: TWITTER/FURKAN
Taliban fighters and locals sit on an Afghan National Army humvee vehicle in Jalalabad
Credit: AFP
It’s thought it is an United States Air Force C-17 plane
Credit: Twitter
