Air Force to Investigate Plane That Flew From Kabul After Human Remains Found in Wheel Well

The United States Air Force said Tuesday it will conduct an investigation after finding human remains in the wheel well of an Air Force craft that flew out of Kabul while being swarmed by people during a security breach.

After the city of Kabul fell to the Taliban over the weekend, thousands of Afghans have been attempting to flee the country. More than one C-17 aircraft belonging to the U.S. military took off from Kabul airport on Monday. At least one of them was carrying 640 Afghan evacuees in the cargo hold, according to defense officials.

The exact C-17 aircraft in question was involved in a security breach at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to a media statement from Ann Stefanek, chief of media operations for the Air Force.

The C-17 aircraft from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state had just landed in Kabul with a load of equipment when it was swarmed by hundreds of panicked Afghans who were trying to board the plane before the cargo could be unloaded.

"Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield as quickly as possible," the statement said. Stefanek also pointed to a now-viral video showing would-be evacuees trying to hold onto the exterior of the plane at the wheel well and falling from the aircraft as it departed the airport.

An Air Force spokesperson has confirmed that the C-17 involved in the incident has been linked to Joint Base Lewis-McChord via wing markings.

The spokesperson added that the Air Force's Office of Special Investigation is reviewing information about the aircraft and the "loss of civilian lives-to include video documentation and the source of social media posts."

In another video posted to Twitter by the Afghan Asvaka News Agency, two objects can be seen falling from the body of a plane as it leaves the airport.

A third video shared by the Afghan agency with a warning for graphic content shows what Asvaka says is, "Locals while collecting the bodies of three men clinging to the wheels of the plane that took off from Kabul airport, they were then fell to the ground near Khairkahana area of Kabul."

"Desperate Afghans are hanging on the plane tires and falling from the sky near the Kabul airport," Middle East Eye reporter Ragıp Soylu tweeted on Monday.

"Our hearts go out to the families of the deceased," Stefanek said in the statement.