Gorkha, August 30
When he saw several cargo containers turning back shortly after Galchhi in Dhading, 70-year-old Badriprasad Devkota began to sense that something was wrong. He had also heard rumours of flooding in the Trishuli River, leaving him increasingly worried.
Devkota, a resident of Naukhore in Palungtar Municipality-5, Gorkha, said there had been no visible sign of flooding in the Trishuli at that point. The river appeared normal, and other vehicles were continuing along the road. Assuming there was no immediate danger, the bus he was travelling on also continued its journey.
The driver gradually began increasing the vehicle’s speed. Before reaching Bhaisey, fellow passenger Baburam Devkota asked the driver to stop so he could relieve himself, but the bus did not stop. Instead, it began moving even faster.
As the bus continued, the driver suddenly spotted a massive wave approaching from upstream. He slowed down, apparently intending to turn the bus around. Baburam managed to jump from the bus, followed shortly afterwards by another passenger, Tularam Devkota.
Badriprasad became increasingly terrified. “I was sitting in a seat behind the driver. I looked through the upper window to see what was happening and saw a wave so enormous that it seemed to cover the whole world,” he said. Believing there was little chance of survival, he too decided to jump from the moving bus.
He rose from his seat and grabbed an overhead bar. A pile of bags was blocking the door. As he tried to climb over them, his wife, who was sitting beside him, grabbed his hand and pleaded with him not to jump. But at that moment, he said, he could think of nothing except escaping from the bus. He managed to free his hand and jumped from the moving vehicle. Moments later, the bus stalled and came to a stop.
Just then, the first wave struck the bus. The muddy floodwaters knocked Badriprasad, who was running for safety, into a drain. The wave briefly subsided, giving him a chance to get up and run. He eventually grabbed the branch of a small tree. “My younger brother Tularam was holding onto the same tree. The two of us clung to it,” he said.
Before their eyes, the flood swept the bus away. “We watched as the bus was carried away by the current. It was completely submerged and never came back up. My wife was inside, along with others. I loved them, but there was nothing I could do,” Badriprasad said, breaking down in tears.
The survivors then began searching for safer ground. Further uphill, they met fellow passengers Rabindra Devkota and Parbati Neupane. “The floodwaters had thrown them aside. They were covered in mud and looked like logs,” Badriprasad said.
The bus assistant, who had also managed to escape, later joined them. After finding one another, they broke down in tears and spent some time comforting each other. Meanwhile, the flooding continued, roaring down from upstream with tremendous force. They remained there for around two hours, waiting for rescue, but no one arrived. After more than two hours, they saw a helicopter in the sky, but they were not rescued.
“People on rooftops across the river were raising their hands and crying for help,” Badriprasad said. “Before our eyes, the flood swept them away along with their homes.” With no rescue in sight, the survivors continued on their own. By the time they reached Hilekharka, they were in a desperate condition. There, they received a cup of tea and some biscuits, although they did not know who had provided them.
They were later taken by vehicle to Suryagadhi Rural Municipality, where they received first aid for injuries sustained while escaping. On Friday, they were taken to Kathmandu via Hetauda and Kulekhani. Tularam, who also survived by jumping from the bus, expressed anger over what he described as the state’s failure in rescue and disaster response. He said the lack of timely warnings had contributed to the scale of the tragedy.
“If vehicles had been stopped at the Trishuli crossing as soon as information about the flood was received, perhaps such a huge loss could have been avoided. We would not have had to witness piles of bodies today,” he said. Although he survived, Tularam became emotional as he spoke about being unable to save his wife and the others travelling with him. “I survived, but my wife is gone, and my whole community has been devastated,” he said through tears. “My sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law were sent with me believing they would be safe, but I could not save anyone.”
He said they only realised the scale of the flood after the water reached their vehicle. He had returned to the area hoping to find his wife, relatives and neighbours who were swept away by the flood, but found no trace of them. The bus, carrying pilgrims from Palungtar to Gosainkunda, had 38 people on board from the same village, including the driver and bus assistant. Six people managed to save their lives by jumping from the bus.
Of the remaining 32 people who lost contact, the bodies of two have been recovered, while search efforts for the others are ongoing.
