Is This Picture From Recent Nepal Plane Crash? No, the Viral Claim Is False
The image is from 2019, when an aircraft hit two helicopters during take off at Lukla Airport.
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An image of a crashed plane in an open field with several people gathered around it is going viral on the internet, with users claiming that it is a visual from the recent plane crash that happened in Nepal on 15 January.
(Archives to similar claims can be accessed here, here, here, and here.)
The context: An aircraft of Yeti Airlines crashed into a river gorge in Nepal when it was minutes away from landing at Pokhara International Airport, reportedly resulting in the death of at least 68 people on board.
What is the truth?: While the image is from Nepal, it is from April 2019, when an aeroplane carrying three people crashed into stationery helicopters at Lukla Airport.
What led us to the truth?: A simple reverse image led us to a report published by BBC News, a United Kingdom-based media organisation.
It carried a cropped version of the viral picture and was published on 14 April 2019. The picture was attributed to AFP, a news agency.
The report mentioned that three people lost their lives in a plane crash in Nepal, where a plane deviated from the runway and crashed into a stationary helicopter at Lukla Airport.
Tenzing-Hillary Airport, also known as Lukla Airport, is known as one of the "world's most dangerous airports."
The report was published in April 2019.
(Source: BBC News/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Further, we found the same image uploaded on AFP's website.
It was uploaded with a caption that mentioned, "A Summit Air Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft (L) bound for Kathmandu is seen after it hit two helicopters during take off at Lukla airport, the main gateway to the Everest region."
The image was uploaded by the news agency in April 2019.
(Source: AFP website/Screenshot)
A comparison between the viral image and the one uploaded by AFP clearly highlights the similarities and proves that they are from the same incident.
A comparison between both the images clearly highlights similarities.
(Source: AFP website/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: While the image is from Nepal, it is unrelated to the recent plane crash that happened on 15 January.
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