Passenger livestreamed plane’s descent before crash that killed 72 in Nepal
NEW DELHI — Airline passenger Sonu Jaiswal’s 90-second smartphone video began with the plane flying over buildings and green fields as it approached the airport runway in Pokhara, a Nepalese city in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Everything looked normal as Jaiswal’s livestream on Facebook shifted from the picturesque views seen from the plane’s window to fellow passengers who were laughing. Finally, Jaiswal, wearing a yellow sweater, turned the camera to himself and smiled.
Then it happened.
The plane suddenly appeared to veer toward its left as Jaiswal’s smartphone briefly captured the cries of passengers. Within seconds the video turned shaky and the screeching sound of an engine could be heard. Toward the end of the video, huge flames and smoke took over the frame.
The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu plummeted into a gorge Sunday, killing all 72 passengers and crew. The plane was co-piloted by Anju Khatiwada, who had pursued years of pilot training in the U.S. after her husband died in a 2006 plane crash while flying for the same airline. Her colleagues described her as a skilled pilot who was very motivated.
The deaths of Khatiwada, 44, and Jaiswal, 25, are part of a deadly pattern in Nepal, a country that has seen a series of air crashes over the years, in part because of difficult terrain, bad weather and aging fleets.
On Tuesday, authorities began returning some identified bodies to family members and said they were sending the ATR 72-500 aircraft’s data recorder to France for analysis to determine what caused the crash.
In India’s Ghazipur city, about 185 miles south of the crash site in Nepal, Jaiswal’s family was distraught and still waiting to identify his body. His father, Rajendra Prasad Jaiswal, had left by car Monday evening and was expected to reach Kathmandu late Tuesday.
The flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been found at the crash site of a plane that went down on approach to the tourist town of Pokhara.
“It’s a tough wait,” said Jaiswal’s brother, Deepak.
The news of the crash in Pokhara reached his home barely minutes after the accident as news channels began broadcasting images of the aircraft’s mangled wreckage, still burning and billowing thick gray smoke, Deepak Jaiswal said.
Thousands of flights across the U.S. were canceled or delayed Wednesday after a system that offers safety information to pilots failed.
Still, the family was not willing to trust the news, holding out hope for Jaiswal’s survival.
By Sunday evening, however, it had become clear. Deepak Jaiswal, who confirmed the authenticity of his brother’s livestream to the Associated Press, was among the first in his family to watch the video that has since gone viral on the internet.
“We couldn’t believe the news until we saw the video,” he said. “It was painful.”
Jaiswal, a father of three, worked at a liquor store in Alawalpur Afga village in Uttar Pradesh state’s Ghazipur district. Deepak Jaiswal said his brother had gone to Kathmandu to visit the Pashupatinath Temple — a Hindu shrine dedicated to the god Shiva — and pray for a son, before setting off to Pokhara for sightseeing along with three other friends.
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“He was not just my brother,” Deepak Jaiswal said. “I have lost a friend in him.”
The tragedy was felt deeply in Nepal, where 53 passengers were Nepalis.
Hundreds of relatives and friends of the victims consoled one another Tuesday at a local hospital. Families of some victims whose bodies have been identified prepared funerals for their loved ones.
Co-pilot Khatiwada’s colleagues were still in disbelief.
Victims of the crash were given emergency aid from beachgoers on Australia’s Gold Coast during the Southern Hemisphere summer.
“She was a very good pilot and very experienced,” Yeti Airlines spokesperson Pemba Sherpa said of Khatiwada.
For the record:
7:16 p.m. Jan. 17, 2023An earlier version of this article incorrectly said co-pilot Anju Khatiwada began flying for Yeti Airlines in 2020, four years after her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in a crash. Her husband was killed in a crash in 2006.
Khatiwada began flying for Yeti Airlines in 2020. Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, was flying a DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 plane for the same airline in 2006 when it crashed in Nepal’s Jumla district and burst into flames, killing all nine people on board. Khatiwada later remarried.
Sherpa said Khatiwada was a “skilled pilot” with a “friendly nature” and had risen to the rank of captain after flying thousands of hours since joining the airline in 2010.
“We have lost our best,” Sherpa said.
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