Wife of a former Royal Marine commando who was evicted Afghanistan He finally came home last night on an almost empty plane and revealed the dramatic details of his escape.
Kaisa Marcus, 30, touched down in her native Norway this morning and breathed a sigh of relief when she visited her mother and father in Oslo.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she talked about the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport, where a distressed mother tried to force her to take a baby with her and with only a handful of people The rescue was ‘alone’ in the transport. Told about sorrow.
‘Thousands of people are trying to enter the airport and once through the gates we found a large group of people, both Afghans and Americans, trying to board a military plane. Tea
“There were crying babies who were separated from their parents and there were at least three babies that their desperate mothers would have handed over to the soldiers,” Casa said.
‘Once on the plane, we waited on the tarmac for hours for people to pass. But eventually we had to fly. I just felt sad because the flight was so empty’.
In their four-day fight to land back in Europe, Cassa, an accomplice of British former soldier Paul ‘Penn’ Farthing, was nearly crushed to death in a stampede kept in a safe house outside Kabul airport.
She told today how she arrived at Kabul airport early yesterday and found thousands of locals surrounded the perimeter of a barbed wire and some military planes trying to evacuate Westerners.
Reunited: 30-year-old Casa Marcus touched down, painted, and breathed a sigh of relief while visiting her mother and father in Oslo this morning in her native Norway.
No Way Out: Westerners and Afghans with visas will have to work their way through this crowd (pictured today) if they want to make it to the airport. Casa said the human tide outside the airport is only getting worse
Latest footage from the airport in Kabul today showed women and children being crushed underfoot as Westerners were driven out of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Casa’s Norwegian evacuation flight was almost empty. He said: ‘Once on the plane, we waited on the tarmac for hours for people to pass. But eventually we had to fly. I just felt sad because the flight was so empty’.
She and a pregnant American friend, who manages the Nauzad Animal Sanctuary, founded by her partner Penn, had to physically make their way through a sea of men, women, and children to enter.
Once there he had to attract the attention of American soldiers stationed at the checkpoint, who had to check his paperwork before he was allowed to leave.
He had to be on crutches outside the gate while waiting for hours to process his forms, trying to avoid being in the crowd and out of sight of soldiers.
Eventually they were waved. Kaissa went to the US processing center with her American friend before leaving for the Norwegian office.
After re-checking her passport and paperwork, she boarded an almost empty military plane, waiting for several hours to board Norwegian ex-pats.
However, only a few fighters survived the chaos and confusion outside Kabul airport, and the plane took off with only a few passengers.
The military plane arrived in Georgia early in the morning and caught a connecting commercial flight to Oslo.
Speaking to MailOnline, Casa said: ‘I am so happy and relieved to finally be home.
“There are thousands of desperate and scared people in Afghanistan who fear for their lives at the hands of the Taliban rulers and these people who are crowding around Kabul airport and looking for a way out.
‘The airport has four gates and each one is surrounded by a crowd of people.
‘The problem is that unless you have valid paperwork and proper forms to go through the gate, the soldiers won’t let you in.
‘This needs to be clarified to the public as the entire family is currently sleeping outside the perimeter fence in the hope that there may be a way out.
‘And those who have seats booked on flights out of Afghanistan, no one can pass through the human tide outside Kabul airport. It’s not getting any better, only getting worse as people get more desperate.
“We need to somehow make it clear to the people that there is no point in crowding outside the airport if you do not have the correct documents. They will not go in and risk their lives only in a dangerous crush.’
The journey home to Casa began on Tuesday when he and his friend attempted to get to the airport, but were thwarted by a large crowd that had gathered outside, encouraged by the fact that some locals first came to safety. Were. The military planes had managed to break through and make their way. .
To hold the masses back, American soldiers fired warning shells at the heads of the people, causing panic and confusion.
In the ensuing stampede, Kaisa and her friend are crushed to death and wander the confused and confused streets.
Luckily friends picked her up and moved her to isolated safe homes in Kabul, where she was able to reassure Penn, 52, that she was in no danger.
Although Taliban fighters were patrolling outside in trucks equipped with AK47s, they had some positive encounters with them.
Recalling his first theatrical attempt a week earlier, he said: ‘It was not a good experience at all.
‘There were a lot of scared people who just wanted a way out. A woman tried to hand me her baby and said, “Please, please take my baby” but I can’t, no matter how much I want to help. It just doesn’t work like that.
‘She must have been desperate to do that.
The evacuation of a child on the perimeter wall of the airport in Kabul has been handed over to the US military
A smiling boy walks past US soldiers as he makes his way through a security checkpoint inside Kabul airport on Wednesday
Taliban fighters have now surrounded the airport in Kabul and are deciding who to come in and who to stay out. To keep the crowds back, checkpoints have been set up on both the civilian south side of the airport and the military north side, with shots fired at both.
Satellite images have revealed the extent of the crisis at Kabul airport with cars against the southern civilian entrance and the northern military entrance, which can be seen from satellites.
It was impossible to reach the gate because we had so many strong men in front of us but when the soldiers started firing, people started running in all directions and we had to be careful not to throw on the floor under the weight. of the crowd
‘I was more worried about my friend as she is pregnant but we somehow cleared up but were alone in Kabul.
‘We were taken to two different places across the city and waited there for 48 hours before trying again.’
The Taliban have issued a nationwide curfew between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., so Kaisa began her second, this time successful attempt, after it ended yesterday.
She continued: ‘We were told it’s quiet first thing in the morning and not much people gather outside the airport gate, but when we got there, there was a familiar crush of people.
‘We reached the gate, had to push ourselves forward. You must be able to make eye contact with the US soldiers guarding it and be able to hand them the proper documentation
But while you’re waiting, you have to somehow stay ahead of the crowd and keep people from pushing you in front of you. It’s easy to get lost in a crowd and if they can’t see you, the soldiers can’t get you in.
‘Finally arriving at the airport was a huge relief. I went to my friend where there was a US processing center and it was epidemic.
There was a large group of people, both Afghan and American, trying to board the military plane. There were crying babies who were separated from their parents and there were at least three babies who would have been handed over to the soldiers by their desperate mothers.
‘The Norwegian processing center was very quiet but we had to wait for several hours waiting for people to arrive, but of course they couldn’t because of the crowds outside the airport.
‘Norwegian soldiers are managing a hospital in Kabul, but have been sent to the airport to help ex-pats get home safely. He took good care of me.
‘But in the end I was one of the few passengers to fly on that flight to Georgia. The plane was almost empty.
‘It was a sad reminder that our governments probably need to sit down with the Taliban and find a way to stop thousands of people from gathering outside the airport.’
Casa’s partner Penn, originally from Essex, has vowed to stay behind in the Kabul sanctuary until all 25 of its employees and their family members – about 71 in total – are given safe passage from Afghanistan.
He served with the Royal Marines in Helmand Province in 2006 and later founded the Nauzad Sanctuary for Stray Animals after falling in love with a stray dog during his tour.
The charity, supported by Ricky Gervais and Dame Judi Dench, is Afghanistan’s first official animal sanctuary and cares for more than 140 dogs, 60 cats, 24 donkeys and some horses.
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