'Instead of bus, they took flight': How 4 unlucky Indians died in Nepal plane crash

Nepal plane crash: Four of five Indians who died in the Nepal plane crash were planning to take a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara but they changed their plan and took flight, India Today reported on Monday.

A Yeti Airlines passenger plane carrying 72 people onboard crashed just 10 seconds before landing in Nepal's resort city of Pokhara on Sunday. All the passengers including 5 Indians died in the crash.

Four of them were from Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur and had gone to Nepal on a holiday. They were identified as Vishal Sharma (23), Sonu Jaiswal (35), Anil Rajbhar (28), and Abhishek Kushwaha (25).

They visited the famed Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu and had a video chat with their common friend, Dilip Verma. After offering prayers at the temple, Verma said they told him that they were going to Pokhara on a bus. "But they later changed the plan and took a flight instead," Dilip Verma said.

Dilip also revealed that Sonu Jaiswal, who went Live on Facebook just a few moments before the crash, ran a wine shop. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son.

Anil Kumar Rajbhar ran a Jan Sewa Kendra (public service centre) and Abhishek Kushwaha ran a shop. Vishal Sharma was in the finance department at a two-wheeler showroom and was the youngest of all his friends.

Sonu Jaiswal had gone to pay obeisance at the Pashupatinath Temple after his wish for a son was fulfilled around six months ago, news agency PTI reported citing his relative. Jaiswal has two daughters and he took a vow to visit the Pashupatinath Temple if he had a son.

"Sonu, along with his three friends, had gone to Nepal on January 10. His main purpose was to pay obeisance to Lord Pashupatinath as his wish to have a son, now six months old has been fulfilled. But fate had something else in store for him," said Vijay Jaiswal, a relative.

The fifth Indian on the plane was Sanjay Jaiswal (26) from Bihar’s Sitamarhi.

Nepal Plane Crash

Yeti Airlines' ATR-72 aircraft with 68 passengers onboard took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am on Sunday and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing. 

The black box of the ill-fated aircraft was recovered from the accident site on Monday. The plane had crashed into a river gorge while landing. Both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered and will be sent to Kathmandu.