Overloaded but airborne: Incredible photo shows 640 Afghans on a US C-17 cargo jet - designed to carry 150
The first photos have emerged of crammed US cargo jets with nearly hundreds of terrified Afghan refugees on board after they ran onto the aircraft before military personnel could close ramps on them on Sunday in their escape of the Taliban.
The US has so far flown at least two C-17 cargo jets out of Kabul and more flights are expected throughout Monday night and later this week despite chaos on the ground on Monday which involved eight people dying and flights being halted.
As it was preparing to take off on Sunday, hundreds of terrified Afghan nationals ran onto the plane, up the ramp, and settled on board.
A photo obtained by Defense One shows them all lined up, sitting on the floor of the plane that is fitted to carry 150 soldiers comfortably, but can take 171,000lbs of cargo.
Initially, audio from on board to an air traffic controller suggested there were 800 on board but Defense One says the true number was 640.
The refugees - including many women and young children - ran onto the plane's half-open ramp before take-off and 'the crew made the decision to go', taking them with them, an unnamed defense official said.
'Approximately 640 Afghan civilians disembarked the aircraft when it arrived at its destination,' the official said.
