Shooting at the moment of take-off of a C-130J of the Italian Air Force from the airport of Kabul with other Afghan evacuees on board. No consequences for crew and passengers. According to the breaking latest news, the fire was opened when the aircraft had already detached the wheels from the runway of the Hamid Karzai Airport, with the engines at maximum power to allow it to take off. According to reports from Skytg24 journalist Simona Vasta, who was on board the C130 targeted on board the aircraft “there were moments of panic”.
The pilot, a female officer of the Italian Air Force, was quick as well as keeping a cool head – we still learn – in carrying out an emergency maneuver that made the C130J safe in flight, moving it away from the trajectory of bullets, probably machine guns. heavy positioned outside the airport or on a nearby hill. Intelligence sources report that the shots may have been fired to disperse the crowd that was pressing towards the airport gate. On board the C-130 journalists and 98 civilians.
The C130J then continued on the planned route that took it to the Al Salem air base in Kuwait, from where the people on board will then continue to Italy with KC767. In all these days of evacuation by airlift from Italy or other nations from Afghanistan it is the first episode of its kind that is known. As evidence of an increasingly marked tension in the airport area.