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Scene on the runway in Kabul (on August 16)
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
The US Air Force has launched an investigation into the fatal incidents involving the departure of one of their aircraft at Kabul airport.
The US Air Force announced on Tuesday (local time).
The jet took off from the Afghan capital's airport on Monday, surrounded by hundreds of civilians on the tarmac.
Images of the dramatic scene went around the world: a video showed how dozens of people ran alongside the rolling US military machine.
Some climbed onto the plane and clung to it.
The Air Force announced that after the plane landed in Qatar, "human remains" had been discovered in the landing gear well.
The machine will initially remain on the ground for further investigations, it said.
Videos and posts from social media would also be included in the research.
Recordings that were supposed to show people falling from the military aircraft from great heights caused particular horror.
It was suspected that they had hidden in the landing gear or were holding on.
In its statement, the Air Force did not provide any information on whether people had actually fallen, but explicitly mentioned the clips and stressed that all available information would be checked.
Crew wanted to leave the airport quickly
According to the US Air Force, the C-17 machine landed at the Afghan capital's airport on Monday to deliver equipment for the evacuation operations there.
Before the crew could unload the material, however, the plane was surrounded by hundreds of Afghans who broke security barriers.
In view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation, the crew decided to leave the tarmac as soon as possible.
In addition to these harrowing scenes, there were also positive reports about the flights of the US Air Force yesterday.
Photos from the interior of a C17 machine appeared on social media.
They showed the hold full of Afghan people.
According to the current state of affairs, more than 640 Afghans are said to have been flown out with this one flight alone.
The people got inside the jet through the half-open cargo hatch - the crew decided to take off despite the delicate development.
jok / dpa