Misleading: This image shows Nepal security forces near the 2023 plane crash debris in Pokhra.

By: Vivek J
January 17 2023

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Context

A twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines crashed near the Pokhara airport in Nepal on January 15, 2023, at about 10.50 a.m. At least 66 people are reportedly dead, and the search for the remaining passengers and crew is underway. 

Several images and videos claiming to be from the incident have flooded social media platforms. One such image shared widely on mainstream media and social media platforms shows security personnel near the debris of a crashed aircraft. However, this image is not from the January 2023 incident in Pokhara. 

In Fact

Upon conducting a reverse image search, we found an IBTimes report on plane crashes published in 2014. We came across the now-viral image with the caption, "A Nepalese police officer stands in front of the wreckage of a Dornier aircraft, owned by private firm Sita Air, at the crash site in Kathmandu September 28, 2012." This photo is credited to Navesh Chitraka of Reuters. 

We found this same image listed on the Reuters images website and in a CBS News report from 2015. CBS reported that the image was from the crash site of a Dornier aircraft owned by a private firm Sita Air that crashed shortly after taking off from Kathmandu on September 28, 2012. 

Thus, it is evident that the recently shared image claiming to be from the Pokhara crash is actually from 2012. Another video claiming to be from the spot shows locals pulling out a survivor from the debris of the Yeti Airlines AT 72 crash site in Pokhara. However, there have been no confirmed reports of survivors at the site of the incident at the time of writing.

The Verdict

An unrelated image from the 2012 Sita Air Dornier aircraft crash has been shared by people claiming it is from the recent air crash near the Pokhara airport in Nepal on January 15, 2023. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.