Afghan National Soccer Team Player Died in Fall From U.S. Plane in Kabul
A 19-year-old who played on Afghanistan’s youth national soccer team has died after falling from a U.S. military C-17 aircraft on Monday amid a desperate scramble to evacuate the country in the wake of a Taliban takeover, according to reports.
The Afghan national soccer team shared news of Zaki Anwari’s death in a post on Facebook.
“Two days before and after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, to go to America and find a better future, he rode on the wheels of the American airplane with several other compatriots who fell to the ground while flying with several other compatriots,” the post reads.
Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports wrote in a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday that Anwari had “lost his life in a horrible incident.”
Anwari was “endeavoring to leave the country like hundreds other youth from his country. He has fallen down from the US military plane and lost his life,” the statement adds.
Seven people died at the airport on Monday when hundreds of Afghans flooded the tarmac, desperate to flee the country and escape the Taliban.
Several people clung to the landing gear of a C-17 aircraft as it taxied to the runway. Video appears to show the plane ascending over the city and at least two bodies falling from the aircraft.
