Zaki Anwari was just 19
An Afghan teenager who played for the country’s national youth football team has fallen to his death after trying to escape Kabul by clinging to a plane.
Since the Taliban claimed power on Sunday, enormous crowds have gathered at Kabul’s airport seeking to escape. Crowds chased down C-17 planes, mothers handed their babies to soldiers, and two people appeared to fall to their deaths from some height after clinging to the wing of a plane.
On Thursday, Afghan news agency Ariana announced that one of those who died was Zaki Anwari, a 19-year-old footballer, who fell from a USAF Boeing C-17 on Monday. It is believed Anwari attempted to hold on to the outside of the aircraft as it departed from Hamid Karzai international airport.
The General Directorate of Physical Education & Sports of Afghanistan confirmed Zaki Anwari, a player from the national youth football team, was among hundreds of young people who tried to leave the country by clinging to a US military plane. Anwari fell and died.#ArianaNews pic.twitter.com/onhcSMFiEu
— Ariana News (@ArianaNews_) August 19, 2021
The US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) is investigating the circumstances and loss of human life.
“In addition to online videos and press reports of people falling from the aircraft on departure, human remains were discovered in the wheel well of the C-17 after it landed at al-Udeid air base, Qatar,” they said.
The family of a boy who fell to his death spoke to VICE, saying that their other son (16) is also missing.
“We are really upset that we’ve lost two… we’ve found the body of one of them, but the other one is still missing.
“Everyone is trying to run away. It is in fear of the Taliban, they are killing people. They have all left to go the airport… they want to go abroad.”
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