Passenger on board the plane records the exact moment of the tragedy in Nepal 1:06
(CNN) --
A Facebook Live video purporting to show the last terrifying moments inside the cockpit of Yeti Airlines Flight 691 before it crashed in Nepal on Sunday circulated online in recent hours, while on the ground continued the search and recovery efforts surrounding the accident.
The plane crashed on its way from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to Pokhara, a gateway for tourism to the Himalayas.
There were 72 people on board, including four crew members, according to an airline spokesperson.
Among the victims was also a businesswoman of Argentine nationality.
With all but one body recovered, the crash is already the country's deadliest air disaster in more than 30 years.
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The video was reportedly broadcast live from inside the plane by passenger Sonu Jaiswal, and the footage is from moments before the plane crashed.
Shows an airplane window with a view of the wing as the plane banks sharply to the left.
At one point, apparently unaware of the imminent danger, Jaiswal turns the video to face himself, smiling amid background chatter and laughter.
Several passengers can be heard chatting animatedly in a mix of Hindi and Punjabi languages;
One person says, "Look at that body of water, it's great," as the plane passes over a lake.
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Rescuers inspect the remains at the crash site of a Yeti Airlines plane in Pokhara, Nepal on Sunday, Monday, January 16.
(PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)
The mood inside the plane appears calm, with no emergency warnings from the pilot or airline crew.
Seconds later, the video begins to shake abruptly, and screaming can be heard;
the camera loses focus, showing only flashes of light and loud noise, before the scene bursts into flames.
CNN corroborated the veracity of the video based on geolocation, a flight manifest and information from the Yeti Airlines website.
Jaiswal is listed as a passenger on the flight manifest, and the seat number listed for him on the airline's website matches images taken from inside the plane.
A close friend of Jaiswal's in India, Arman Ansari, also confirmed that Jaiswal is in the video.
He added that he watched Jaiswal's Facebook Live broadcast during the flight.
“We were watching it.
We watched it for a few seconds and then he cut himself off.
We don't think much about it,” she said.
Aryaka Akhouri, the chief of the Gazipur district in India, where Jaiswal lived, said she had spoken to Jaiswal's parents and confirmed that he was on the plane and had filmed the video.
The topography and its sudden changes in temperature, some of the dangers of flying in Nepal
However, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said the video was not from the crash on Sunday.
When pressed for more answers, he said he and his team had no technical evidence to back up that claim.
Instead, he pointed to passengers laughing at the first sign of turbulence before panic spread, as proof it couldn't be the Yeti Airlines flight.
Aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told CNN that the video could be useful in the investigation, saying it could have captured details that were not recorded by the plane's black box.
For example, the aircraft's flap, which provides additional lift during landing, “doesn't appear to be fully extended,” she said.
He added that what appears to be the sound of an engine suggests that they "had power to (run) at least one engine."
Relatives of the victims of the plane crash in Nepal.
ongoing research
Search and recovery efforts continued on Tuesday for the two people who were still missing, according to Nepalese police.
Hours later, rescue teams in Nepal were reported to have found the body of one of the two remaining victims, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to 71, according to a local official.
Kaski District Deputy District Chief Anil Shahi said the search is continuing to locate the last remaining person from the accident.
For his part, the district police chief, Ajaya KC, said the fog made tasks difficult and authorities planned to use drones to locate the missing person when the weather improves.
Meanwhile, an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway, with the assistance of French investigators who will arrive on the scene on Tuesday.
The plane's black box, which records flight data, was recovered Monday and will be handed over to CAAN, authorities said.
Aviation authorities said Tuesday that the plane's pilot had asked air traffic controllers for a runway change just minutes before the plane crashed.
Pokhara airport has two runways that pilots can choose from when landing and the pilot's request had been accepted, CAAN spokesman Jagannath Niroula said.
“When the Yeti Airlines pilot asked the tower if he could take the second runway to land, the tower approved the request,” he said.
"The tower controllers did not ask why the pilot wanted to use a different runway than originally planned, as it is technically not an issue which runway the pilot chooses to land on," Niroula told CNN.
No distress calls from the pilot were reported to controllers at the Pokhara airport tower, it added.
On Monday, in both Kathmandu and Pokhara, crowds held candlelight vigils for the victims of the accident.
Of the bodies recovered, at least 41 have already been identified, Yeti Airlines said in a statement Monday.
Some bodies will be handed over to their families in Pokhara, while others, including those of foreign nationals, will be flown to Kathmandu on Tuesday, police said.
Fifteen foreign nationals were on board, hailing from India, Russia, South Korea, Australia, Ireland, Argentina and France, according to CAAN.
Videos from Monday showed grieving families in Pokhara, waiting outside the hospital where autopsies are being carried out.
The autopsies were delayed because a team of forensic experts did not arrive in Pokhara until Monday afternoon, according to police and airline officials.
Some families have begun to report the loss of their loved ones.
In a statement on Tuesday, the family of Australian victim Myron Love said the 29-year-old teacher had been a keen cyclist who "lived life to the fullest".
kosh
Raj
Koirala contributed to this report.
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