The picture of a completely overcrowded US rescue plane went around the world: Last Sunday, the crew of a Boeing C-17 transport plane took hundreds of people on board and ejected them, regardless of safety rules or evacuation lists. Gave. Now it is known that how many people actually gathered together to flee from Afghanistan.

The US Air Force originally announced that 640 people had been evacuated. But they actually managed to get more to safety: Justin Triola, the soldier responsible for the cargo, said there were 823 passengers on board.

Triola: “They were definitely worried about getting out of the area and we were happy to have them with us. And they were certainly happy when we were on the air. Lt Col Eric Kut added to broadcaster CNN on Friday: “We were there to bring hope and freedom. At the moment it was not about the rules, but to bring about it. To protect women and children and save lives. “That’s what we’re trained for,” Kut said.

A US Air Force Boeing C-17 transport aircraft can typically carry around 300 passengers during an evacuation. In this case, amidst the chaos at Kabul airport, panicked Afghans stormed the plane on Sunday, as reported by the website “Defense One”. So the crew decided to fly to Qatar instead of forcing people to disembark.

The floor of the C-17 can no longer be seen in the photo for the sake of the crowd. The US Department of Defense confirmed the procedure on Tuesday, but did not provide any details about the number of passengers.

The new number of passengers was based on the 183 children not yet counted and who were also on board.

The Air Mobility Command, a main command of the US Air Force, wrote on Twitter: “The original number was based on how many seats were occupied when the aircraft took off (after landing, editor’s note). did not include the number of people who sat on the lap (adults, editor’s note).

The C-17 Globemaster III is typically used for the transport of heavy equipment or for the transfer of hundreds of soldiers with goods and weapons.