Hours after Nepal’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, a video went viral in India. The video showed one of his victims, Sonu Jaiswal, streaming him live from the plane just seconds before the crash.
He was part of a group of four friends from Gazipur, India who were visiting Nepal and were on a flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
In the footage, the area around Pokhara airport is visible from a plane destined to land.
None of the 72 people on board are believed to have survived. crash.
The video shows the plane gliding slowly over the beehives of buildings that dot a brown-green field, as the man filming it turns the camera and smiles.
He then turns again to show the other passengers on board.
The following details may be painful for some readers.
After a while, a deafening crash occurs.
Huge flames and smoke fill the screen within seconds as the camera continues recording. Before the video ends, you hear what sounds like an engine screeching, shattering glass, and screaming.
Friends and family of Sonu Jaiswal told reporters they had seen the video on his Facebook account and confirmed its authenticity.
“Sonu did it [livestream] That’s when the plane crashed in a ravine near the Seti river,” Jaiswal’s friend Mukesh Kashyap told reporters.
Local journalist Shasikant Tiwari told the BBC that Kashyap showed him the video on Jaiswar’s Facebook profile, which is set to private.
It is not clear how Jaiswal accessed the internet to stream from the plane.
Abhishek Pratap Shah, a former MP from Nepal, told Indian news channel NDTV that rescuers had recovered a phone on which the video was found from the wreckage of the plane.
“this [the video clip] It was sent by one of my friends who received it from a police officer. This is a real record,” Shah told his NDTV.
Nepalese officials have not confirmed his claims or commented on the footage.
But for four male loved ones – Jaiswar, Abhishek Kushwaha, Anil Rajvar and Vishal Sharma – this is no problem.
“It’s hard to describe the pain,” said Chandravan Maurya, Abhishek Kushwaha’s brother.
“The government needs to help us in any way they can. We want the bodies of our loved ones returned to us.”
Authorities in Gazipur, northern Uttar Pradesh, said they were in contact with the families of the four and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to offer them all possible assistance.
“We have also told the family that if they wish to travel to Kathmandu, we will make all the arrangements,” district magistrate Aryaka Akhauri told reporters.
Some villagers remembered the four men as “kind, fun-loving souls”.
Some even took part in protests demanding compensation for the bereaved families.
The four, who are believed to be in their 20s or early 30s, have been friends for many years and often spend time together.
Locals say they went to Nepal to visit the Pashupatinath Temple, a magnificent temple on the outskirts of Kathmandu dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva on January 13th.
This trip was reportedly Jaiswal’s idea. He was the father of his three children and wanted to pray at the temple for another son.
After visiting the temple, the friends paraglided to Pokhara, a picturesque tourist destination located near the Annapurna Mountains on Sunday. They were due to return to Kathmandu.
“But fate had something else in store for him,” an unnamed relative of Jaiswal told news agency PTI.
These four men were one of five Indians on board. Authorities said 53 of his passengers were Nepalese, including four Russians and two South Koreans.Others on board were reported to have been included one passenger each from the UK, Australia, Argentina, France.
On Monday, Indian social media was flooded with images of the crash site and a video shot by Jaiswal.
Jaiswal’s father, Rajendra Prasad Jaiswal, said he couldn’t stand watching the clip himself. He said, “I just heard from Sunwoo’s friends. Our lives fell apart.”
Anil Rajbhar’s father stayed away while a group of mourners stood in the neighborhood in disbelief.
His son left for Nepal on January 13 without informing his family. According to neighbors, Anil quietly packed up and went out with his friends while his father was busy in the fields at home.
His father still doesn’t believe the news.
Additional reporting by Shashikant Tiwari, Uttar Pradesh
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