Kabul, Aug 16 (TIWN) At least five people have been killed at the Kabul airport and three stowaways were reported to have fallen to their deaths from an airborne plane as thousands of Afghans are desperately trying to get on flights out of the country amid increasingly chaotic scenes, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.

US troops fired shots in the air at the Hamid Karzai International Airport to prevent hundreds of civilians running onto the tarmac after they took over Afghanistan's air traffic control. Witnesses said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.

Footage published by Asvaka showed three stowaways falling to the deaths after clinging on to the wheels of a military plane as it took off from Kabul airport.  Panicked Afghans were also seen climbing up the outside of an airbridge in a bid to get on board planes and chasing a US military C-17 down the runway.  Videos also showed hundreds of people running alongside, and in front of, a US Air Force plane preparing to take off, the Daily Mail report said.