Saree became lifeline for 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims in Nepal flood escape

A saree lowered from the top of a mud-covered embankment became a lifeline for a group of mostly older pilgrims as floodwaters and falling boulders engulfed a mountain road near the Nepal-Tibet border. The 21 survivors reached Chennai from Kathmandu on Friday night, recounting an escape that required them to scramble from their bus, climb through mud and thorny undergrowth and spend a day and a half awaiting evacuation.

But the others travelling in their three-bus contingent remained unaccounted for on Saturday, as did a separate group of 49 pilgrims from Chennai. Navu Kabirdas and his wife, Vijaya Bhuvaneswari, residents of Murugu Nagar in Velachery, said they felt as though they had been reborn.

The couple were among 57 people travelling through Rasuwa in three buses arranged by a Kumbakonam-based agency. Their bus, the second in the convoy, had briefly stopped for repairs after becoming stuck in mud. Bhuvaneswari said those few minutes ultimately saved them.

“Suddenly, we heard a loud noise like a bomb explosion, and stones began falling on the van,” Kabirdas said. “Then the floodwater came rushing in as though a dam had been opened. Bhuvaneswari said she saw the bus behind them beginning to tilt but could not bear to continue watching.

Their Nepalese driver recognised the danger, told everyone to get out and run upwards, and fled the vehicle. The passengers followed. The 21 survivors, most of them over 50, had to climb a muddy rise approximately one storey high.

They repeatedly slipped and fell. Poongodi, a member of the group who had reached the top, put on her sweater, removed her saree and lowered it towards the others. “We held tightly on to both the saree and a cable that was there and climbed up,” Bhuvaneswari said.

“Finally, one woman alone was unable to climb. We told her to tie the saree around her waist, and the people in our group held on to it and lifted her straight up.” Sathya, a Panchayat Union School headmistress from Kanchipuram district, said the pilgrims had left Syabrubesi at 8 am for Chinese immigration.

Their bus was in the middle when they saw what initially appeared to be a cloud of dust. “Rocks and mud were rolling towards us like a tsunami wave, rising to a height of about 70 to 80 feet,” she said. “We had seen things like this only in English films.” The passengers escaped through the driver’s side, with mud already above their ankles.

“There was no path to climb the mountain. If we climbed four feet, we would slide down five feet,” Sathya said. After reaching an Armed Police Force camp, the group received water and biscuits. Through people who still had a cellphone signal, they sent a photograph to Tamil Nadu as proof that they were safe.

At one point during the climb, they saw a man trapped in the mud waving for help. They alerted rescue personnel, who later rescued him, Bhuvaneswari said. The following day, the pilgrims walked for three hours through thorny bushes and along a narrow mountain path to reach a helicopter evacuation point.

“If we made a mistake, we would fall 50 feet below,” Kabirdas said. “At one point, we went the wrong way. A Nepalese man guided us. We had to climb down and then go upwards in another direction. Climbing down was more difficult than climbing up.” They were flown to safety in a military helicopter and subsequently travelled through Kathmandu and New Delhi before reaching Chennai.

Some had lost passports and other documents. “The vehicle travelling with us was swept away by the water behind us,” one survivor said, thanking the Nepal government, Nepal Army, Indian Embassy and Tamil Nadu government.

“For us, this was truly a miraculous journey.” Sivaranjani, a survivor from Tiruchi, said their bus had escaped because it was positioned in a triangular space at a bend. “When that enormous wave came, it struck the rock directly opposite and moved away,” she said.

“All 21 of us got down one by one and climbed the mountain, slipping as we went.” Thirty-six passengers from the 57-member contingent remained unreachable Saturday. The separate 49-member Chennai group, last reported inside the Gyirong Port immigration building on the Chinese side shortly before the flood struck Wednesday, also remained missing.

Tamil Nadu Minister A Rajmohan said that more than 400 people from Tamil Nadu had travelled to Nepal and that 90 remained unreachable. Officials had not released a breakdown reconciling that broader figure with the 85 missing from the two identified contingents.

On Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s instructions, Ministers Aadhav Arjuna, Rajmohan, K Thennarasu and R Vinoth camped in New Delhi to coordinate the operation. The government said efforts were continuing to establish the condition of those still missing and assist survivors who had lost their passports and other documents.