Photos show old aviation disasters in Nepal, not plane crash in 2024
- Published on July 31, 2024 at 03:50
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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"A very sad incident from Nepal's capital Kathmandu, a Saurya Airlines plane crashed there," read the Hindi-language caption of a post on social media platform X on July 24, 2024.
The post shared two photos of plane wreckage and rescue workers at the site of a crash.
A Bombardier CRJ 200 plane operated by Saurya Airlines crashed at Kathmandu airport on July 24 just as it was beginning its 20-minute flight to the tourism hub Pokhara for a maintenance review.
The pilot and sole survivor of the crash had a miraculous escape because, according to an aviation official, on impact he fell into a cargo container where there were no flames.
The images were shared with similar claims elsewhere on Facebook here and here and on X here and here.
But the photos showed previous aviation accidents in Nepal.
2018 plane crash
A reverse image search on Google found the first photo in the archives of The Associated Press news agency (AP).
"Nepalese rescuers stand near a passenger plane from Bangladesh that crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, on March 12, 2018," the caption read.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared in misleading posts (left) and the photo published by AP (right):
Fifty-one people were killed and 20 seriously injured in the crash involving a US-Bangla Airways plane.
An investigation by Nepali authorities concluded that pilot disorientation and a lack of situational awareness led to the disaster.
AFP previously debunked misleading posts that shared the same photo in 2023.
2023 deadly disaster
Another reverse image search on Google found the second picture in a news report published on the website of French news organisation Le Monde on January 15, 2023 (archived link).
"Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, January 15, 2023, " the caption read, with the photo credited to AP.
Keyword searches in AP's photo archives found the photo here (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared in misleading posts (left) and the photo from the 2023 plane crash published by AP (right):
The Yeti Airlines flight with 68 passengers and four crew plummeted into a steep gorge, smashed into pieces and burst into flames as it approached the central Nepalese city of Pokhara.
All those on board, including six children and 15 foreigners, are believed to have died.
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