Live streams are often used for celebrations or by celebrities wanting to connect with their followers, but in 2023 one video tragically caught the final moments on board a plane before it crashed.
All 72 people on board Yeti Airlines flight 691 died when the aircraft crashed in January 2023 during a flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal.
The plane was on its final approach to runway 12 at Pokhara International Airport when disaster struck, and the plane crashed on the bank of Seti River before settling partly in a deep gorge.
Warning: Distressing Content
An inquest into the death of British-born passenger Ruan Crighton took place earlier this year, during which HM Coroner’s Court for North London heard that one of the two pilots on the plane had mistakenly changed the propeller angle instead of the wing flaps ahead of the crash, BBC News reported.
Crighton was ruled to have died by blunt force injuries to his head, chest, and abdomen as a result of the plane crash.
Another passenger on board that day was Sonu Jaiswal, a 25-year-old who had been live streaming a video on Facebook shortly before the crash occurred, and inadvertently caught some of the plane’s final moments on camera.
The 90-second clip showed the aircraft approaching the runway, flying over buildings and green fields as it passed across Pokhara in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Jaiswal captured the picturesque scenes, but about 50 seconds into the video the plane suddenly began to fall from the air.
The voices of fearful passengers could be heard in the video before a live crashing sound rings out. Jaiswal disappeared from the screen, but his phone continued to record the plane on fire.
In the wake of the crash, Jaiswal’s family struggled to believe their loved one had died until they were confronted with the video he’d filmed himself.
His brother Deepak told The Associated Press at the time: “We couldn’t believe the news until we saw the video. It was painful.”
“He was not just my brother,” Deepak added, as per Al Jazeera. “I have lost a friend in him.”
An eyewitness to the tragedy, Arun Tamu, spoke about the crash to Reuters, saying: “Half of the plane is on the hillside. The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river.”
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