FINAL MOMENTS
Terrifying moment Afghan stowaways film themselves clinging to US plane seconds before ‘three fell to their deaths’
A HORRIFYING clip has emerged showing frantic Afghan stowaways filming themselves as they cling to a US plane moments before some fell hundreds of feet to their death.
The latest video apparently shows the desperate civilians taking selfies and giving the thumbs up as it takes off from Kabul airport with crowds below cheering on.
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Another video shows a man tethered to landing gear, although it is impossible to know if he was alive or dead at the time the film was shot.
But his limbs can be seen helplessly thrown around by the extreme air currents after the military plane is airborne.
It is unlikely the man or the others filmed survived the ordeal but his fate is unknown.
The routing of the aircraft was not immediately clear.
The footage highlights the utter desperation of civilians fearing certain death if they are caught by the Taliban.
It follows several deeply distressing videos showing stowaways falling to their deaths soon after it was airborne.
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It was reported the crew found a body in the landing gear.
It appears the man became trapped in a panel that is part of the landing gear mechanism and which closes when the wheels are retracted.
The discovery was made when the crew struggled to close the landing gear and then made an emergency landing in a third country, the Washington Post reports.
In another video, a group of men can be seen riding on top of the wheel bay as the plane taxis along the runway.
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It's unclear if the person taking the footage managed to get off or be blown off before it became airborne.
Around 20 men are seen on the wheel bay as the plane goes by, with some even waving, in yet more footage.
Taliban checkpoints around Kabul airport are today blocking Afghans from accessing the terminal, making it difficult for the West to evacuate local staff who worked for Western forces, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Mr Maas at a press conference: "The Taliban has set up checkpoints everywhere in the city and have the entire area and the airport surroundings in their hands."
The only people allowed through into the airport are "foreign citizens, but no local workers and no Afghan citizens" are given access, he said.
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Afghanistan - Stowaway trapped in plane landing gear, others fall from aircraft as hundreds of Afghans board US military C-17 at Kabul airport to escape Taliban
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