BIDUR: They came to the Himalayas seeking spiritual renewal, drawn by Tibet's sacred, snow-capped Mount Kailash.
Instead, scores of pilgrims were caught in deadly floods that tore through the Nepal-Tibet region on Wednesday, wiping out entire villages and killing more than 540 people.
Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling in Nepal by bus with 56 others from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. They were heading towards the Chinese border when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.
"Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us," Sivaranjani, 46, told AFP Friday, showing a phone video she recorded of a torrent surging towards her.
"One by one, we also climbed out through the driver's side," she said, describing vehicles swept away or buried under mud around them.
The tsunami-like wall of water and mud was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a torrent of debris downstream, burying homes and sweeping away bridges. While Muthunathan and others were able to make it to high ground, not everyone escaped.
Laloma, a 27-year-old Nepali mother, said she saw two buses carrying Indian pilgrims swept away. "They are all gone," she told AFP.
She was rescued on Thursday from Nepal's devastated area of Syabrubesi, along with her infant son and husband, after sheltering for a freezing night in a school.
'Share your pain'
Mount Kailash is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.
Hindus regard Kailash as the abode of deities Shiva and Parvati, while Tibetan Buddhists associate it with Mount Meru, which they say is the centre of the universe.
It is forbidden to climb the 6,638-metre-high (21,778-foot) mountain.
Instead, pilgrims undertake a roughly 52-kilometre (32-mile) contemplative circuit around its base, taking most walkers about three days.
Indian spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev this year led devotees to Kailash, an annual pilgrimage growing in popularity, especially among Indians.
Thousands of Indians, as well as Hindus from other nations, are reported to have made the pilgrimage this year.
Jaggi's "sacred walks", organised by his Isha Foundation, promised a journey to a place "of divine connection, where the veil between the physical and spiritual is thin".
On Thursday, Jaggi wept as he described his frantic calls to missing devotees, in a video message posted from Tibet to his several million followers.
Some 77 pilgrims were at the Nepal-China border office when floodwaters swept through the centre on Wednesday, he said in a post, alongside a terrifying video from the Chinese side of the frontier, when a wall of mud and debris crashed over the building.
"Literally, the entire group was there in the building, this is a terrible and extraordinary event," he said, as anguished wails from other pilgrims with him are heard over the video.
For Indians, the pilgrimage to Kailash and nearby Lake Mansarovar is organised annually by New Delhi's foreign ministry, in coordination with Chinese authorities.
It restarted in 2025 for Indians for the first time since a 2020 border clash.
'Pure intention'
Logadarrsiny Raman, 26, from Malaysia, said four members of her family were among 17 Malaysians travelling with a Nepali travel operator.
Her parents, aunt and uncle had spent months planning the pilgrimage, which they regarded as a spiritual journey of fulfilment.
"They felt like this was the right time for them to go for this pilgrimage," Raman said, speaking to AFP in Kuala Lumpur.
She last exchanged WhatsApp messages with her father just after dawn in Nepal on Wednesday. After that, the family heard nothing. The flood crashed into the area where they were last known to be.
"I'm very anxious," she said.
"My only hope is to hear back from them that they are safe."