Desperate Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban were forced to wait eight hours on the tarmac at Birmingham Airport yesterday, a charity has claimed.
One evacuee contacted Fahim Zazai, founder of the Afghan Community and Welfare Charity in Walsall, Birmingham, as he waited hours to disembark.
The passengers were not fed between the hours of 12pm and 8pm, the man told Fahim, adding that flight staff did not provide an explanation for the long wait.
Refugees have fled Afghanistan following the Taliban's lightning-fast operation that took control of capital Kabul within a matter of days.
In the days since, reports have surfaced of warlords carrying out brutal reprisal attacks, extra-judicial executions, and rapes on women taken as "spoils of war".
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The passenger said the evacuee families spent the night at the airport itself rather than being taken to an onward facility, Birmingham Live reports.
It wasn't until leaving the plane that they were told the reason for the long wait times.
According to the charity boss, officials took such a long time due to processing four other refugee planes that landed earlier in the day.
Fahim said: "They were sat on the plane for eight hours from 12noon to 8pm and a passenger called me to see if I could find out what was happening.
"People were very distressed because there were small children and elderly people on the plane and there was no food.
"The crew said they didn't know what was happening either.
"These are people who have already waited a few days at Kabul Airport and travelled eight or 10 hours. Some of the flights are also stopping overnight in Dubai.
"The passenger told me they were told after they got off the plane that there were four planes ahead of them, whose passengers all needed to be processed before they can be, and that's why they had to stay on the plane.
Fahim plans to use his charity to help welcome Afghan refugees to Birmingham Airport.
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul in a lightning-fast operation earlier this month, Afghans terrified of returning to the brutal oppression of the militants' 1996-2001 rule, have scrambled to flee the country.
Several countries, including the UK, have offered to welcome a set number of refugees and have sent planes to evacuate them.
Fahim, who was smuggled to the UK himself in 1999, aged 20, founded the Afghan Community and Welfare Centre over a decade ago to help refugees settle in the local community. He does this by helping them to access work, school, GPs, English classes and local social groups.
After fleeing following fears of Taliban persecution, Fahim knows the obstacles refugees face in a new land.
He said: "We would like to know whether we can help out, as a charity, by maybe providing food and water when these flights arrive if the airport or immigration will allow it. I would love to get involved and I feel something needs to be done to help these people get a comforting welcome.
"I came over as a refugee in a similar situation, so I know how difficult it is not knowing a language or understanding the local culture and it's important to help them integrate.
An airport spokesperson told The Mirror: “We are working tirelessly to support the humanitarian effort which we stood up at extremely short notice to assist the UK government and the thousands of people being repatriated into the UK from Afghanistan.
"Every effort is being made by the entire airport community, as well as voluntary, charity and government agencies, to coordinate this very complex and sensitive operation.
"However, the nature of the flights, with the added complexity that they are from a red list country, carrying people who have been evacuated under extraordinary circumstances has meant that the arrival and border process has been lengthy at times, but has now improved and stabilised.
"We thank everyone involved so far for their hard work and kindness to provide food, water, blankets, baby products, clothing, toiletries and first aid support and for putting passenger welfare at the centre of this emergency coordinated effort.”
