Lighthouse Journalism came across a video of a plane crash being shared on social media platforms. It was claimed that the video shows a recent plane crash in Kathmandu that killed 18 passengers. During the investigation we found that the video was not of a plane crash in Kathmandu. The video is old and from the plane crash in Nepal’s Pokhara, last year. We found the viral claims to be misleading.
Claim:
X user DA News Plus shared the viral video on their profile.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other social media users too are sharing the video with the same claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the viral video.
Reverse image search on the first keyframe led us to a news report on India Today.
The report was uploaded on January 15, 2023.
The report mentioned: Visuals of the Nepal plane losing control mid-air moments before crashing near the Pokhara airport on Sunday have emerged. A video filmed from a building’s terrace in the neighbourhood shows the passenger plane, ATR-72, carrying 72 people losing direction just before crashing.
Report further said: The flight was en route from Kathmandu to Pokhara. The aircraft crashed into forested land located on the banks of the Seti Gandaki river that flows between the old domestic airport and Pokhara International Airport. A total of 53 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two Koreans, one Argentinian, and a French national were on board.
We also found several news reports about the same.
One X user too had uploaded the video on 15 Jan, 2023.
We also found that the video was uploaded by the Facebook page The Darjeeling Chronicle on 15 January, 2023.
The video was titled: TRAGIC :Plane Crash in Pokhara International Airport – Many feared dead A 72-seater passenger aircraft crashes on the runway at Pokhara International Airport in Nepal. Rescue operations are underway and the airport is closed for the time being. The Kathmandu post has reported, a total of 68 passengers & four crew members were on board the Yeti airlines aircraft that crashed between the old airport and the Pokhara International Airport, Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Yeti Airlines More details are awaited.
Conclusion: Viral video that claims to have captured the final moments before the plane crash in Kathmandu, Nepal is an old video that shows the plane crash in Nepal’s Pokhara last year. Viral claims are misleading.
