Just as the world was hoping there won’t be a repeat of the recent mayhem that saw Afghan residents rushing through the Kabul airport in thousands, and subsequently risking their lives by clutching on to every inch of a military plane to escape the Taliban, a similar sight unfolded at the airport today when once again Afghans tried to gain access to the airport, leading to military personnel firing tear gas.

Today’s scene followed after the Pentagon said that order was being restored at the site and evacuation flights from Afghanistan would be accelerating, the Wall Street Journal reported.

No sooner than it was announced, people desperate to flee the country, rushed to the airport hoping to catch a flight out of Afghanistan. The chaos built to an extent where the military personnel fired tear gas to control the crowd that tried to gain access to Kabul airport on Friday.

Soldiers have also fired in the air to disperse the crowd, according to a senior Western official. It was unclear as to whether the soldiers were American. Afghan, British, or other Western troops stationed at the airport. There was no immediate comment from the US military.

Soldiers are also emerging from the airport and coming out into the perimeter, which is surrounded by Taliban, to disperse crowds and clear the way for families struggling to get in, as seen on videos clips taken by passengers. Thousands of Afghans are still pushing to get into the airport, following the Taliban’s takeover on Sunday. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and partners have evacuated nearly 20,000 people from Kabul airport since last weekend, according to public announcements by officials.

Zaki Anwari, the footballer who played for the country’s national youth team, fell to his death on Monday while he was trying hard to cling on to the body of a US C-17 military plane to escape the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. He was 19 years old and was one of the two people who were seen in a viral video that showed two people falling from the aircraft while it was in the sky.

The US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) has reportedly said that In addition to online videos and press reports of people falling from the aircraft on departure, “human remains were discovered in the wheel well of the C-17 after it landed at the al-Udeid airbase, Qatar.”

…With IANS inputs