Nepal plane crash: 4 UP residents were on Facebook Live
What's the story
Four out of five Indians—who were on the ill-fated plane that crashed in Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday—were live on Facebook minutes before the crash. All four were residents of Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district and were joyously sharing their flight experience in the 1:30-minute Facebook Live video. The plane burst into flames 58 seconds into the video, and the ensuing chaos was briefly recorded.
Context
Why does this story matter?
A Yeti Airlines-operated passenger plane 9N-ANC ATR-72 on its way from Kathmandu to Pokhara, carrying 72 people, crashed on Sunday morning, leaving no survivors. The aircraft crashed between the city's old domestic airport and the new Pokhara International Airport seconds before landing. It is one of the deadliest plane crashes in Nepal, which has a history of such plane crash incidents.
Deceased
4 friends planned on staying there for week
The four deceased were identified as Sonu Jaiswal (29), Anil Rajbhar (28), Vishal Sharma (23), and Abhishek Singh Kushwaha (23) from Baresar in Ghazipur. All four left for Nepal together reportedly on Friday and had planned to stay there for a week. They landed in Kathmandu on Friday and performed puja at Pashupatinath Temple, following which they were headed to Pokhara for paragliding.
Details
The occupations of the deceased
Jaiswal was a liquor trader, and Sharma worked as a finance officer at a two-wheeler agency, while Kushwaha and Rajbhar ran Jan Sewa centers at Alawalpur and Zahoorabad villages. The video was shared from Jaiswal's Facebook account, as confirmed by his cousin. It showed one of them rejoicing, saying, "Mauj kar di (it's real fun)," and then also showed Pokhara below from the window.
Funeral
Bodies to reach Delhi today
Kasimabad Circle Officer Balram Singh visited the families of all the deceased and assured them of help in bringing their bodies back for cremation. Kushwaha's elder brother Abhinay said that they received calls from the Indian and Nepalese embassies informing them that the bodies would reach Delhi on Monday morning. Jaiswal is survived by his wife, an infant son, and two daughters.
Previous incidents
Nepal has history of plane crashes
Nepal, home to the world's highest peaks, has a history of air accidents owing to the weather conditions and airstrips in challenging alpine sites. A US-Bangla Airlines flight crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in 2018, killing 51 people. In May 2022, a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air crashed, killing all 22 persons onboard. Another Tara Air plane crashed in 2016, killing 23.