Distressing footage from the US evacuation of the Kabul airport shows desperate Afghans clinging to the side of a taxiing C-17 Globemaster and falling to their deaths after takeoff.

According to reports, at least three people fell to their deaths after trying to take refuge in and on the wheel wells of the departing aircraft. An additional five deaths were reported as people were killed trying to forcibly enter US aircraft.

Videos from the previous evening had shown swarms of Afghan civilians overwhelming airport security and US military cordons in an attempt to hitch a ride to anywhere but the now-Taliban controlled country of Afghanistan. US troops sprayed tear gas and fired warning shots into the air. Apache helicopters conducted extreme low passes to disperse crowds off the runway so aircraft could take off.

The footage is shockingly comparable to the US emergency evacuation from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, where ghastly images of desperate locals are shown clinging to helicopters and inside the landing gear of transport planes and then falling to their deaths.