'Kabul Skydiving Club' t-shirt faces backlash online, netizens call it 'cruel & horrible'

Pictures of a t-shirt mocking Afghan citizens who fell to their death from a US Air Force jet have triggered a huge backlash on social media. Sold by a US e-commerce company, the print on the t-shirt featured an image of military aircraft and two bodies falling from it along with a slogan that reads “Kabul Skydiving Club Est. 2021”. The listing surfaced online just a few days after two Afghan nationals, including a teenager footballer, lost their lives falling down the C-17 plane in Kabul. 

An Etsy shop called ‘conaneShop’ sold the t-shirt for 12 Euros (Rs 1050). The apparel, which has now been taken down, was available for both men and women in various colours and sizes. The insensitive print did not go down well with netizens who lashed out at the companies for mocking Afghanistan’s sufferings. 

As the images of the advertisement stunned several internet users, netizens slammed the parent website for dehumanising and gaining profit from a human tragedy. One user wrote, “Some human beings really are sick, and ought to be openly regarded and declared as such." Another added, “So sad to see insensitive louts laughing at others' plight. Zero empathy = zero humanity! Applies to both, the sellers and the buyers."

Following the backlash, the brand removed the shirts from their Etsy profile and has also taken a complete U-turn. The company launched “Pray for Afghanistan” t-shirts. However, the insensitive skydiving t-shirt is available on many other websites for a “cheaper price”. 

US investigates incident at Kabul airport

Meanwhile, the US Air Force has said that its Office of Special Investigations is reviewing an incident at the Kabul airport on Monday in which multiple people were killed when hundreds of Afghan civilians desperate to leave the country swarmed a C-17 cargo plane as it was attempting to take off. The United States did not say how many people died. But it added that human remains were found in the plane’s wheel well after it landed at al-Udeid Air Base in the Gulf state of Qatar. 

Chaos and disorder amongst the civilian ensued as the terror group run free in a war-ridden country reinforcing their terror. Troubled visuals of anguished Afghans crowding at the Kabul airport showed several risking their lives to flee from the landlocked country. Afghanistan footballer Zaki Anwari was one of those who fell to death after trying to cling to a US plane, the General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan has confirmed.

(Image: AP/Twitter)