Afghanistan crisis: Fleeing families 'beaten by Taliban'

The Taliban took control of Kabul's airport

British citizens have been beaten while trying to leave Afghanistan, Middlesbrough's MP has said.

Labour MP Andy McDonald is trying to help seven families from the town who are trapped in the country.

He said his office had photographs of one constituent "sitting in his wheelchair with his clothes in tatters, covered in bruises head to foot".

The government said it was doing all it could to help "British nationals and eligible Afghans".

Among the seven families is a mother who has leave to remain in the UK and whose husband holds a British passport but their one-year-old baby was not allowed to return with her because his passport had not been granted.

It has now been issued, but is in the UK.

Another baby without a passport, aged five months, is stuck in Afghanistan with his mother, an Afghan national, although he is a British citizen whose father holds a British passport.

The MP's office said "countless" people had called with concerns about family members in Afghanistan

"You can imagine the shear panic and terror," Mr McDonald said.

"We've had people who've been beaten at the airport.

"We've had a chap who's had his hands smashed by the Taliban, his wife was clobbered in the head with a rifle butt and then jailed.

"They've seen loved ones murdered in front of their eyes."

Others in contact with the MP's office include families with children who go to school in Middlesbrough and had been expecting to start the new term next week.

Some said they had tried to escape over the border to Pakistan, where there were thousands of others waiting, but were prevented by the Taliban, Mr McDonald's office said.

Staff said they had "countless" people contacting the office concerned about family members in Afghanistan who were now hiding.

The Home Office said more than 16,000 people had been evacuated to the UK.