As the hours passed, hope for any survivors of the Yeti Airlines plane crash in Nepal faded. On Sunday, an ATR-72 plane carrying 68 passengers and four crew members took off from Kathmandu and crashed near Pokhara International Airport.
According to the Kathmandu Post, rescuers have recovered 68 bodies from the crash’s debris, with the search for the remaining four continuing. However, army personnel said the treacherous terrain hampered rescue efforts, which were eventually called off at night. The search is expected to resume in the morning.
Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Vishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal were the five Indians who died. According to a local resident who travelled with them to Nepal, four of the five Indians planned to participate in paragliding activities in the tourist hub of Pokhara.
A cellphone recovered from the wreckage of the Yeti Airlines flight that crashed in Nepal today appears to have captured the flight’s final, very disturbing moments. The twin-engine ATR 72 plane from Kathmandu, carrying 72 people, crashed shortly before landing in Pokhara, a popular tourist destination in the Himalayan country. At least 68 passengers were killed.
The video, which has gone viral on social media, begins with shots of passengers inside the plane and the city below seen through the window as the plane circles before landing. Suddenly, there is an explosion, and the screen flips upside down. The final few seconds show a terrifying fire outside the window, as well as the cries of distraught passengers.
Atención: ⚠️ IMÁGENES FUERTES ⚠️
Uno de los pasajeros de nombre Sonu Jaiswal de 35 años, originario de la India inició una transmisión en vivo a través de #Facebook y captó el momento en que el avión de #YetiAirlines se estrella dejando como saldo él y 67 muertos más en #Nepal. pic.twitter.com/HH3To9EbMC
— El Dato Noticias Morelos (@eldatomx) January 15, 2023
Five Indian passengers were on board, all of whom were from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. Sonu Jaiswal, one of them, was apparently doing a Facebook Live shortly before the plane crashed. He is no longer alive. The same video can be found on his unverified Facebook account.
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Yeti Airlines’ 9N-ANC ATR-72 took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 a.m. and made final contact with air traffic control at 10.50 a.m.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the plane crashed seconds later on the banks of the Seti Gandaki river, just before landing at Pokhara International Airport. The airport had only been operational for two weeks.
Following the crash, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ convened an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Following the meeting, the government formed a five-member investigation committee to look into the accident. It also mandated that every domestic airline’s aircraft be thoroughly inspected before taking off.
