Afghanistan youth footballer dead after falling from plane

The Afghani General Directorate for Sports has confirmed that one of the people who fell to their death from a departing airplane at Kabul International Airport was national youth team footballer Zaki Anwari.

The 19-year-old had been clinging to a US military aircraft in an attempt to flee the country after the takeover of power by the Taliban.

Anwari was a player for Afghanistan's international youth football team. In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Afghani General Directorate for Sports confirmed his death in what it called a "tragic accident."

"Anwari, like thousands of Afghan youths, wanted to leave the country, but fell off a US plane and died," the Directorate wrote.

The US military has also confirmed that two people were killed as one of its Boeing C-17 aircraft departed Kabul. A spokeswoman for the US Air Force said that human remains were found in the wheel well of the plane upon landing in Qatar, and that the events were now being investigated.

There were scenes of chaos at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul on Monday as thousands of Afghanis sought desperately to leave the country. With the Taliban already in control of the land borders, a flight departing from the capital was the last hope for many.

Video from the tarmac showed hundreds of people running alongside an airplane as it taxied along the runway, with many clinging desperately to the fuselage. Images also emerged that appeared to show bodies falling from the aircraft shortly after take-off.