HOLY COW! C17 That Was Seen Taking Off In Kabul Had Over 600 People Crammed Into It, 4 Times The Max Limit

The US Air Force crammed 640 people onto a C-17 jet that flew out of Kabul on Sunday, four times its usual capacity, as part of the ongoing effort to extract thousands of stranded Americans and Afghans from the city which has fallen to the Taliban.

The C-17, numbered RCH 871, took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on Sunday for the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. It is one of at least two that have flown out of Afghanistan since the Taliban claimed Kabul on Sunday.

Another C-17 - numbered RCH 885 - took off on Monday as hundreds of desperate Afghan nationals flooded the airfield in the hopes of being taken with it. Three people clung to the engines and fell to their deaths as the aircraft ascended. Two others died after being shot by US forces, CBS News reported, and two are said to have been crushed beneath the wheels of a departing plane.

New audio from RCH 871 reveals the US Air Force pilot communicating with a controller who asked how many people were on board.

'Ok, how many people do you think are on your jet? 800 people on your jet?! Holy... Holy cow... Ok..' the controller said. Despite initial reports saying the jet was carrying 800, the true passenger number was later confirmed to be 640.