One of those who tragically fell from a US Air Force plane departing from Kabul as the Taliban took over the war-torn country was reportedly a member of the Afghanistan national junior football team, Director General of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies Davood Moradian told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
The General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan, a government institution that worked with sporting groups, confirmed the death of Zaki Anwari in the mayhem that erupted at the airport in the capital this week.
“Anwari, like thousands of Afghan youths, wanted to leave the country but fell off a US plane and died,” the group said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Hundreds of Afghans had thronged Kabul airport Monday, a day after the Taliban took over the city, in the hope to flee the country.
In a video that went viral on social media, a crowd of people can be seen running along the C-17 aircraft of the US Air Force. Anwari was presumably among those who had climbed onto the undercarriage of the plane before it took off. In a second video, people appear to be falling off the same aircraft soon after it took off from the Kabul airport.
Anwari was identified in the investigation being conducted by the US Air Force into the circumstances surrounding human remains that were found in the wheel of the C-17.
In a statement on Facebook, Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports paid tribute to Mr Anwari.
“May he rest in heaven and pray to God for his family, friends and sports colleagues,” the sports body said.
Others have also been sharing their respects on social media. “His departure is a great sorrow,” wrote one user on Instagram. “Your memory is always dear to me”.
