▲ Devastating Floods in Nepal
As massive floods and landslides sweeping across Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region have left hundreds dead or missing, survivors are continuously coming forward to share harrowing accounts of the disaster.
According to Reuters on the 27th (local time), 24-year-old Bibek Kumar, a resident of the Rasuwa district in the north-central Bagmati Province of Nepal, was digging a toilet pit outside a newly built house the previous day when he heard a hissing sound.
It was the roaring sound of a massive wall of rushing water, mud, and rocks cascading down.
Four coworkers shouted at Kumar, who was working in a 1.5-meter-deep pit, to get out and run. By the time he scrambled out of the pit in a panic, his coworkers had already evacuated.
"I started running. Then, a giant wall of water came crashing down with a roar, just like an earthquake," Kumar said.
However, as he was being swept downstream by the rushing torrent, "luckily, I got caught on a mango tree and stopped," he recalled with relief, adding, "If it hadn't been for the mango tree, I would have been swept away and lost my life."
Having survived the massive 2015 earthquake in Nepal that claimed nearly 9,000 lives when he was a teenager, Kumar was able to preserve his life this time thanks to a single tree.
Clinging to the tree and watching his workplace get swept away and disappear, Kumar was later rescued by police.
He was transferred to the National Trauma Centre in the capital city of Kathmandu for treatment.
Rihana Ramichane, an 11-year-old girl receiving treatment in the hospital bed opposite Kumar's, said, "I was at school when they told us to close school because of that event (the flood) and go home. As I was crossing the river, floodwaters suddenly came rushing down."
She sustained injuries to her chest and legs, but added, "I'm just glad I'm safe," while noting, "I have no idea what happened to my friends."
Ramichane's mother, Rita, who rushed to find her daughter after receiving a phone call from a friend, said, "I'm glad nothing major happened to my daughter. I was relieved to confirm that she is safe."
Keshab Prasad Baral, 68, who was treated at a different hospital, recounted, "A massive pile of mud rushed straight toward us. The higher it got, the closer it came. Seeing the mud rush into the house, I grabbed my wife's hand to escape to the terrace. But my wife was swept away by the mud."
Baral expressed his anguish, saying, "A helicopter came and rescued me four to five hours later. My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She is gone."
Meanwhile, according to Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily and other reports, a Chinese national surnamed Pang was driving with family members and acquaintances from China toward Nepal in a car that same morning.
Around 10 a.m., when they reached a point about 4 kilometers away from the China-Nepal border checkpoint, a massive wave of muddy water suddenly surged from ahead.
"All the trees and utility poles in front were knocked down, and a massive flood was rushing toward us," he said, describing the situation. "There was no time to turn the car around, so I just kept reversing."
He continued to reverse while waving his hands at a car following closely behind to warn them not to move forward.
"It was only after backing up about 3 kilometers that the current became less fierce," he said.
Pang stated that a telecommunications repair vehicle headed forward but eventually turned back, and dense fog subsequently rolled in, making it impossible to see the surroundings properly.
Although he fortunately avoided a major accident, he stated that he could not get in touch with friends in Gyirong County, Xigaze City, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, where the landslide occurred.
The death toll from the previous day's massive floods rose to at least 160 as of this day, including 157 in Nepal and 3 in China.
With confirmed missing persons reaching 484 in Nepal and 558 in China alone, the scale of human casualties is expected to continue growing.
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