SA pilot airlifts Afghans to safety
Niel Steyl aided the US with ‘mercy flights’ from Kabul, saving close to 1 000 people
ASouth African pilot, a multinational crew and a 41-year-old Boeing 727 saved the lives of almost 1 000 displaced Afghan people last Friday and Saturday as they hot-footed it in and out of Kabul’s airport in a race against time and possible further bomb attacks.
The flights were part of the sometimes chaotic withdrawal by the US and its allies of their citizens and Afghan citizens who assisted them in the 20 years since the intervention in Afghanistan began.
By Monday night, a minute before midnight when the last US air force C17 military aircraft left Kabul, more than 123000 people had been evacuated since the end of July and the Taliban’s advancement to Afghanistan’s capital.
“We received a desperate call from the US state department’s officials in Kabul after the suicide bombing attack last Thursday night, asking whether we would be willing to assist with mercy flights,” Captain Niel Steyl told the Mail & Guardian from Kulob in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan.
Steyl, 60, from Cape Town, and his crew from Safe Air Company have been based at Kulob for a month, assisting the Americans with evacuating people and equipment. Safe Air is usually based in Nairobi, Kenya.
“The urgency became critical to evacuate a group of Afghan special forces and their families. They have been assisting the US forces in the country for many years. As such, they would certainly have been killed by the Taliban as they are seen as ‘traitors’,” Steyl told the M&G.
The group of about 800 special forces and their families were housed in a warehouse at the airport while evacuation attempts became more desperate by the minute.
Military aircraft from the US and its allies had been flying nonstop in and out of Kabul as the deadline for the withdrawal of Western allies by midnight on 31 August drew closer. The evacuations reached fever-pitch last Friday, after the suicide attack by Islamic State in Khorosan Province (IS-K), when 19000 people were airlifted within 24 hours.
International television presenters and Flightradar24, an aircraft tracking site, commented with incredulity as Steyl’s white Boeing, named “Irene” because of its IRE registration, jetted into Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Dwarfed by the grey military aircraft, Steyl did not waste time on the ground, knowing he and his crew had to make another flight the same day to evacuate a second load of people. Forty minutes later, 308 passengers, including newborn babies and children, boarded the Boeing.
“Our aircraft is configured for cargo and has no [passenger] seats, but we agreed to airlift the people as there were just too many and too few aircraft to assist,” Steyl said. “We expected a haggard group, but were pleasantly surprised by the wellspoken and neatly dressed group — despite them being holed up in a warehouse under trying conditions for a week. It was humbling to experience the sheer relief and appreciation from their side that we came in time to save them.”
Steyl and his crew are no strangers to flying into conflict areas. On Friday, while other civilian aircraft were avoiding Afghan airspace, he flew undeterred to Kabul to make it back to Kulob airport in the shortest possible time. The Afghan refugees are staying in a tented camp at the airport in Kulob until the Americans can take them to the US later on.
After refuelling and a quick turnaround, the Safe Air crew went back for its second load. They were halfway to Kabul when air traffic controllers told them there was a “ramp freeze” at the airport for half an hour, during which no aircraft would be allowed to land or depart.
This was because US military personnel were conducting a short sendoff ceremony for 13 of their soldiers, who were killed in the suicide attack. Only after they were done could Steyl jet in to collect his second load of 329 people.“we couldn’t load more people at a time and apparently there were still about 150 of the same special forces and their families left after our second flight. We were told to stand by for more flights.”
Steyl said he is aware of more South Africans who had been working as contractors for international companies and are still stranded in
Afghanistan. “They were pleading for help to get out as their situation [was] becoming critical … They don’t dare drive into Kabul or to the airport out of fear of reprisal attacks by either renegades from the Taliban or [IS-K]. I cannot help them as one would need a helicopter to get to some of the outlying areas.”
On Saturday morning, the same mercy crew was on their way back to Kabul. “We don’t know who or what our load will be — just that we are needed,” Steyl said at the time. It was the remaining 150 special forces, who were airlifted on the third flight, which was also to be the dapper Safe Air crew’s last one into Kabul.
On Tuesday, the airport was eerily quiet while the US and its allies faced a barrage of criticism about the chaotic way in which the withdrawal was executed. They had left behind between 100 and 200 US citizens and many Afghans who assisted them during the war to face an uncertain future under Taliban rule.
Speaking to his passengers after they landed, Steyl said they did not know where they were. “All they knew is that they were safe and were some of the fortunate ones to make it out of Afghanistan. They couldn’t stop thanking us.”