Everything appears to be normal in the video which is supposed to show the plane that crashed in Nepal as the plane approaches for landing. Then it suddenly starts shaking.
So far it has been reported that 70 people have been found dead after an ATR 72 plane from Yeti Airlines crashed into a ravine between the old and new airports in Pokhara in central Nepal on Sunday.
Two are still missing, but the authorities do not hold out hope that any of them have survived. The plane is completely destroyed.
On Monday came the news that the so-called black boxes – the trip recorder and the voice recorder – in the plane have been found. These can help provide answers to what caused the accident. Currently, this is unknown.
The weather was clear when the accident happened.
Smiling passengers
Now a video has appeared on social media which is said to have been filmed from inside the plane just before the plane crashed. Allegedly, a passenger, Sonu Jaiswal (29) from India, filmed and streamed live on Facebook.
According to Times of India he was on board with three companions, Anil Rajbhar (28), Vishal Sharma (23) and Abhishek Singh Kushwaha (23), from Baresar in Ghazipur in India, just south of Nepal. They are said to have been on their way to Pokhara to go paragliding.
BBC has also mentioned the matter. Among other things, they have spoken to a local journalist to whom a friend of Jaiswal showed the video. They also pass on a photo of Jaiswal, who appears to be the same person seen in the video.
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In the video, which is around a minute and a half long and appears to have been filmed from the back row, smiling passengers can be seen. It is filmed both out the window and inside the cabin.
On the ground on the outside, you can identify several places from the city of Pokhara. Among other things, a hill with a temple on it and a sports stadium.
From inside the cabin, you can see, among other things, the airline Yeti’s logo on the headrest in the airplane seat.
After around 35 seconds, the plane is seen making a left turn. 11 seconds later it starts shaking.
Shaking and flames
Soon after, you hear several people screaming.
For the next few seconds, it is not possible to see anything from the video. There is only shaking, indeterminate noises and occasional flashes of light.
Only 11–12 seconds after the shaking started can you again see something in the video. What you see are flames, and eventually something reminiscent of vegetation. Which is where the plane crashed.
Seconds later, it is no longer possible to see any of the video, and it eventually ends.
You can watch the video for yourself here – we warn against strong scenes:
VG has itself verified that what you see out the window in the video is the city where the plane crashed. However, VG cannot guarantee that it is actually the crash that was filmed.
But local authorities in India confirm that Sonu Jaiswal is among those killed in the plane. A cousin of his also says he was live on Facebook just before the crash.
Ex-politician claims it is real
– Sonu was on Facebook live after he boarded the plane to Pokhara. The live stream shows that Sonu and his mates were in a good mood, but suddenly there are flames before the stream stops, says the cousin, Rajat Jaiswal, to the Times of India.
Several other friends and family members say they have seen the video, and claim it is real. It is unclear how Jaiswal connected to the internet from the plane.
A former member of parliament in Nepal, Abhishek Pratap Shah, tells the Indian television channel NDTV that rescuers have found the phone with which the video was filmed. There they also found the video clip.
– It (the video clip) was sent by a friend of mine who had received it from a police officer. It is a real recording, says Shah to the channel.
From an official point of view in Nepal, these claims have not been confirmed. The recording has also not been commented on by the Nepalese authorities.
Confirmed dead
The Times of India also gets confirmation from a senior police officer that four from the area of India where Jaiswal came from were involved in the deaths.
– We created groups to confirm their identities, and it became clear that the four were from Baresar.
The local police station chief, Devendra Pratap Singh, confirms the identity of the four. He says, among other things, that he has visited the father of one of them, Anil Rajbhar.
– He said that the four of them, Anil, Abhishek, Vishal and Sonu, had traveled to Nepal on January 13, and planned to stay for one week.
The elder brother of Abhishek Singh Kushwaha, Abhinay, says that they have been called from both Nepal’s embassy in India and India’s embassy in Nepal with information that the remains of the four will be sent to India on Monday.
Sonu Jaiswal’s father, Rajendra Prasad Jaiswal, says according to the BBC that he has not been able to watch the video clip himself.
– I have only heard about it from Sonu’s friends. Our lives have collapsed.
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