Remains Found in Wheel Well of Plane After It Was Surrounded by People Trying to Leave Afghanistan's Capital
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Among the dead in the scramble out of Afghanistan this week is someone whose body was found Monday in the wheel well of U.S. military plane, the Air Force confirmed.
In a statement to various news outlets, the Air Force said Tuesday that the remains were discovered after the C-17 plane left Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and landed at a base in Qatar.
The plane had arrived in Afghanistan with cargo but was unable to unload because "hundreds" of people had surrounded it, the Air Force said in its statement.
Pentagon officials previously said the airport was breached on the civilian side.
"Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield as quickly as possible," the Air Force said.
The Washington Post reported that the plane's crew realized there was a problem when their landing gear wasn't working after taking off.
According to the Post, the plane diverted after realizing the issue and, per Politico, the remains were found hours after the plane left Kabul's airport.
Air Force officials said in the statement that they were investigating "this tragic incident" and that "our hearts go out to the families of the deceased."
The person was not identified further.
Their death is one of several that officials have confirmed in connection with the chaos that overtook Kabul's airport after the Taliban swept into the capital over the weekend as the government collapsed and numerous people rushed to leave the country.
Two armed men were also shot and killed by American forces at the airport, a Pentagon spokesman told reporters. The Associated Press also reported, per unnamed officials, that some people died after falling from the outside of a departing plane they clung to for escape.
The airport has since been secured by the U.S. military as they work to evacuate the thousands of remaining American citizens and allies seeking to leave Afghanistan before Aug. 31.
The evacuation at the end of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has drawn widespread criticism as too slow and too inept, and President Joe Biden on Monday admitted there had been mistakes in how the exit unfolded.
But he said he remained certain an end to the 20-year Afghanistan war was best for the country.
RELATED: More Than 600 People Packed Into Air Force Plane to Flee Afghanistan
On Tuesday, with Kabul's airport secure, the Pentagon told reporters they hoped to be able to evacuate somewhere between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day.
"The commander-in-chief made it very clear that we were to complete this drawdown by Aug. 31 — which now includes the drawdown of American citizens, the pulling out of American citizens, and drawdown of our embassy personnel — so that's what we're focused on," the Pentagon spokesman said.
