Body Found in Military Aircraft Wheel Well Was Afghan Soccer Star

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Afghan who tried to flee Kabul by hiding in the wheel well of a US military plane has been identified as a former Afghan soccer player.

As previously reported, on Aug. 16, the Taliban tak over the Afghan capital of Kabul which caused mass chaos throughout the streets of the capital city. The main place that people in the city wanted to go was the airport. 

During the initial hours of Taliban takeover a number of Afghans who worked with the United States attempted to flee the country on U.S. military aircraft. Flights were full but that did not stop a number of Afghans from trying to hold on to the side of the plane. For the video of the chaos at the airport click here: WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: Afghans Fall to Their Deaths After Clinging to Aircraft

Another spot that people were attempting to hide in was the wheel well of the plane. Videos surfaced later that day of multiple people falling to their deaths while after the planes took off. 

The Afghan whose remains were found in the wheel well was former Afghanistan National Youth Soccer star 19-year-old Zaki Anwari. 

"Very sad to hear that one of the youths who tried to leave #Kabul through grabbing the landing gear bay of a #USAF’s C-17A transport airplane few days ago was a player of #Afghanistan’s National youth soccer team, Zaki Anwari,” journalist Babak Taghvaee for the Independent Persian said in a tweet.

Since the beginning of the takeover Taliban have continued to publicly execute their opposition, shoot at protestors, and beat women and children in the street.