A 24-year-old Nepali labourer had a narrow escape after being swept away by a powerful surge of water, mud and rocks while digging a toilet pit outside a newly built house in Bidur.
Bibek Kumal was working downstream in Rasuwa district, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating floods near the Nepal-Tibet border, when he heard a sudden rushing sound.
Four colleagues who were standing above the 1.5-metre-deep pit reportedly shouted at him to get out and run. Kumal immediately abandoned his work and tried to escape as the torrent rapidly approached.
“I started running. Then a wall of water came crashing down with such force that it felt like an earthquake,” he said while receiving treatment at Kathmandu’s National Trauma Centre.
The powerful current swept Kumal off his feet and carried him through mud and debris before he became caught in a mango tree. His quick escape to the tree ultimately proved crucial in saving his life as the flood continued tearing through the area.
“Luckily, I got stuck in the mango tree. If there had been no mango tree, I might have been swept away and killed,” Kumal said.
While clinging to the tree, Kumal watched in horror as the house where he had been working was swallowed by the floodwaters. The scale of the destruction left little time for residents and workers to escape as the torrent carried rocks, mud and debris through nearby settlements.
Police eventually reached Kumal and pulled him to safety. He suffered an injury to his right leg after being struck by the rushing water before being hit by a large rock.
Kumal was among several injured people receiving treatment at the National Trauma Centre, while other victims were transported to hospitals in Kathmandu. Outside the facility, relatives, friends and members of the public gathered to support those affected by the disaster.
The flash floods have killed at least 160 people, while hundreds of others, including foreign nationals, remain missing in what has been described as one of Nepal’s worst disasters in recent years.
The devastation is believed to have begun when a massive amount of mud and rock collapsed into a river near the Nepal-Tibet border, sending a destructive surge downstream. Homes, roads and other infrastructure were swept away or buried beneath layers of debris.
Security camera footage from the Chinese side showed people fleeing moments before a huge wall of rocks, mud and water struck buildings and vehicles, with many lives lost in the disaster.
The precise cause of the initial landslide remains unclear. However, the German Research Centre for Geosciences reported that a magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred about seven minutes before the time displayed on the security camera footage, raising questions about whether the tremor may have contributed to the collapse.
Despite surviving the disaster, Kumal said his own home in another area was spared from damage. His narrow escape, meanwhile, underlines the devastating speed at which the floodwaters swept through communities along the river.
