Nepal plane crash: 4 friends from UP, went to visit Pashupatinath

New Delhi, Jan. 16: OF THE five Indians on board the Yeti Airlines Kathmandu-Pokhara flight which crashed on Sunday, four — Abhishek Kushwaha (25), Vishal Sharma (25), Anil Kumar Rajbhar (25) and Sonu Jaiswal (30) — were friends, all residents of Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh. No details are available yet on the fifth person, Sanjay Jaiswal.

Ghazipur District Magistrate Aryaka Akhauri said the administration had reached out to the four families.

 Crowds gather as rescue teams work to retrieve bodies at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal January 15, 2023. (Reuters)

While Sharma was from Alawalpur Chatti village in Badesar area of the district, Sonu Jaiswal had houses in Chak Jainab and Alawalpur Chatti but was currently living in Varanasi, Rajbhar was a resident of Chak Jainab in Badesar area, and Kushwaha was from Dharwa in Nonhara area of Ghazipur.

Sonu Jaiswal was a businessman, Sharma was working with a private firm, and Rajbhar and Kushwaha were running a Jan Seva Kendra in Ghazipur.

Sonu Jaiswal’s father, Rajendra Jaiswal, said Sonu, his wife Ragni and three children — aged between 18 months and seven years — had recently moved to Varanasi.

 “I have come to know Sonu was on Facebook Live when the incident occurred. A video of him inside the plane is being circulated on social media. I need to check this information,” said Rajendra Jaiswal, a businessman.

“On Saturday, I called up Sonu’s wife and asked about him. She told me that Sonu had reached Nepal safely and would return soon,” he said.

The Ghazipur residents had reportedly gone to visit the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. “Sonu was planning to visit the Pashupatinath Temple for a long time, so he planned the trip with his friends,” said Rajendra Jaiswal.

The pradhan of Chak Jainab village, Vijay Jaiswal, said the families got to know of the crash through media reports. He said when the families tried to contact them, all the four cellphones were switched off. The four went to Nepal by bus, he said.

A PTI report said the four had arrived in Kathmandu on Friday. “All the four were planning to enjoy paragliding in Pokhara,” Ajay Kumar Shah, a resident of Sarlahi district in southern Nepal, told PTI. “We came together from India in the same vehicle,” he said. They were planning to return to India from Pokhara via Gorakhpur, he said.