Old images passed off as recent Saurya Airlines crash in Nepal

What is the claim? 

A set of visuals claiming to show the Saurya Airlines plane that crashed in Nepal on July 24 are being shared online.

One such post (archived here) that contains a video, a collage, and a standalone image garnered over 16,000 views within an hour of being shared. The post’s caption says, "A major plane accident in Kathmandu, Nepal. A plane met with an accident in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. There were 19 people on board at the time of the accident. It was a Surya Airlines (sic) plane. 5 bodies recovered (translated from Hindi)." Archived versions of similar posts can be viewed here and here. 

The eight-second video shows a plane veering out of control, followed by a loud crash. The two-image collage shows the charred remains of an aircraft on the left and rescue personnel around a plane on the right. The standalone image shows people looking at the burning wreckage of a plane. 

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is misleading. We found that the images being shared are old and unrelated to the July 24, 2024, plane crash at Kathmandu airport.

What we found 

Video

A reverse image search of frames from the video in the viral post led us to the article (archived here) uploaded by media outlet NBC on January 16, 2023. The article contains a video compilation of a 2023 plane crash involving Yeti Airlines Flight 691, and the clip from the viral post can be seen at the 0:50 second mark.

Comparison showing the viral video and the 2023 Nepal plane crash visuals. (Source: X/NBC News)

We also found this video (archived here) uploaded by ABC 7 Chicago on January 16, 2023, and this video (archived here) by MoneyControl on January 15, 2023 — both show similar visuals of the plane veering out of control. 

A domestic Yeti Airlines passenger flight (an ATR 72) flown by on January 15, 2023, flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal, stalled and crashed while landing, according to a Reuters report. All 72 people on board died.

The image collage

We ran a similar reverse image search on the two-photo collage to find they are from two separate incidents, one from 2018 and one from 2023. 

Screenshot of the image collage being linked to the recent plane crash (Source: X)

We traced the image on the left to a Washington Post article (archived here) from March 12, 2018. The article reports on a crash at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal that saw at least 49 deaths after it crash-landed. The viral post carries the same image of the wrecked blue flight rudders surrounded by rescue personnel.  

According to the report, the twin-propeller belonging to US-Bangla Airlines was carrying 67 passengers and four crew members when it crashed. The image has been credited to Navesh Chitrakar from Reuters. 

The image on the right — showing people gathered around the wreckage of an airport —  matches a photo from this article (archived here) published by USA Today on January 15, 2023, which shows a rescue operation from the 2023 Pokhara crash of the Yeti Airlines flight. The image has been credited to Krishna Mani Baral from the international news agency Associated Press. 

A comparison of the viral images with the original images from 2018 and 2023 (top). (Source: X / Washington Post / USA Today)

Image of burning debris dates back to 2023

A reverse image search of the image showing a burning wreck as people watch led us to a January 15, 2023, report (archived here) by the Indian news agency Press Trust of India, and published by the National Herald with the same image. While we could not ascertain the exact source of this image, it was published in several news reports by Indian news outlets (see here and here) from 2023, which shows that this image has been online before the plane crash, and cannot be recent. 

Comparison of images from the viral post and the image from the 2023 Yeti Airline crash. (Source: X/National Herald)

What happened in Nepal?

A Saurya Airlines domestic flight, a Bombardier CRJ 200, crashed on July 24, 2024, around 11 a.m., while it was taking off from Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport. A report by AP states that the crash saw at least 18 fatalities, and a lone survivor was rescued. 

The verdict 

The video and images of different aircraft accidents from 2018 and 2023 have been misrepresented and falsely linked to the Saurya Airlines plane crash in Nepal.