KOCHI: It was around 8.30 am on August 26 and a group of 38 Malayalis from different parts of Keralam, on a trip to Nepal, decided to make a detour to the Swayambhunath temple in Kathmandu Valley. The casual, unplanned visit later turned out to be a life-saving decision for this bunch of people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old, who had a narrow escape from the devastating flash flood in the Trishuli river on the Nepal-Tibet border.
What began as an annual family trip for the members, and their families, of the Licensed Engineers and Supervisors Federation (LENSFED) turned into a horrifying and emotional episode as they were suddenly stuck in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country. On Sunday, emotional scenes unfolded at the Kochi airport early morning as the travellers — comprising Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kannur and Thrissur residents —reunited with their anxious family members.
They recollected how a visit to a Buddhist temple, which was not part of their original plan, had delayed their onward journey and helped them escape the disaster.
“We had completed our visit to the Swayambhunath temple and were on our way to Pokhara (to the northwest of Kathmandu). We had to cross a bridge across the Trishuli for the journey ahead. Vehicles were stopped on a steep mountainside.
We first thought it was some accident. But when we stepped out of the bus we were travelling in, we were really shocked to see the river carrying away everything that came in its way. Mud and sludge flowed down the slopes, around 600 feet below the spot where we were standing,” Renjitha Vinayakumar, who was part of the group from Kottayam, told TNIE.
For the next six hours they remained stuck on the road, with no provision for food or water. “We had to divert our route to a tough road through the jungle to reach a safe place. We couldn’t even attend to our basic needs. But when we realised the magnitude of the disaster, we felt that our difficulties were nothing compared to the others,” Renjitha said.
The travellers also felt deep gratitude to the people of Galachi Bazar (where they were stuck for 6 hours) and those they met further ahead, for providing them with the necessary food and amenities.
“After reaching Pokhara, we depended on the local people to use toilets as they opened their houses for us to take rest,” she added.
As they arrived in Kochi, many of them broke down on meeting their family, bringing an end to the ordeal.
