Over 600 Afghans cram into U.S. cargo plane in desperate flight from Kabul

Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan August 15, 2021. Courtesy of Defense One/Handout via REUTERS.

(Reuters) - More than 600 Afghan men, women and children, crouching and crammed up against each other on the floor of a U.S. military plane, left Kabul after the city was seized by Taliban insurgents.

A photograph showing the Afghan civilians - some clutching luggage, others bottle-feeding infants - on the C-17 cargo aircraft has gone viral on social media.