Local marine losing hope for interpreter stuck in Afghanistan after deadly attacks
PHILADELPHIA - A local marine veteran is working to rescue an interpreter who helped him years ago when he served in Afghanistan. The interpreter is stuck with his family in Kabul, the site of the deadly attacks that claimed the lives of at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops.
"The explosion was very bad and a lot of people got hurt," Carl, an Afghan translator for the U.S. Marines, told FOX News Thursday morning, describing the aftermath of the airport bombing.
"A lot of people got hurt. I got a baby girl. She was five years old. She died right in my hands," he said.
He did not know the little girl, or the others he rushed by car to the hospital.
Watching the news made Peter Cuoco of Glen Mills shutter. You see, he says Carl saved his life ten years ago.
A Lance Corporal with the Marines, when a bomb went off in Afghanistan and Peter Cuoco suffered back and brain injuries. Carl was there as his translator.
"I was bleeding out and I couldn't defend myself, so if it wasn't for Carl I wouldn't have been here," Cuoco explained.
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He spoke to Carl Thursday, who told him he was at the spot of this morning's bombing just moments earlier.
"He said thank God I wasn't there but he's happy that he was able to do something," he said.
Cuoco is frustrated that so far, Carl and his family have been turned away at the airport as he says the Taliban are after him.
"For him, it was not only his life, it was his family's and there's a lot of retribution that potentially could happen," he said.
He's worried for his friend, who's been a translator, he says, for the U.S. for 17 years.
"I don't want to say I lost hope but it is dwindling," he said.
Cuoco wondering why it came to this.
"I'm horrified, and honestly, I wish that better planning or some type of contingency was thought of, so maybe this could have been mitigated or avoided," he added.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to aid in helping evacuate the interpreter and his family out of Afghanistan for anyone wishing to help.
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