Weren’t sure will be able to bring back stranded Indians: AI Kabul flight crew

The last commercial flight to Kabul had a dramatic landing and take-off just as fighters belonging to the Taliban were capturing Afghanistan’s capital, taking over the Palace and securing the perimeter of the city’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Air India flight number 243 took off on time, a little after noon, Sunday, but the ground reality changed in just the two hours that the plane took to reach Afghanistan airspace. Just as the crew prepared for landing and the pilots tried to coordinate with Air Traffic Control, it got no reply.

“Zero reply. We were just met with silence,’’ said one of the crew members who did not wish to be named. According to another, there was no other aircraft in the vicinity and the pilots had no choice but hold their descent into Kabul.