Survivor's Account of a Flood Rescue

That moment was completely dark, and scary too. But

I didn't feel that kind of fear. At that moment, I

didn't know anything. Was it day or night, what time was it? What day was it?

What date was it, how many days had passed, we had no idea.

Then

it was surprising. This catastrophic

possibility had never even been imagined.

There were only a few of us in the control room. We were the only ones who first

got the information. The others knew nothing. Only after we told them did the others

get the information. Some were on this floor, some were downstairs.

Downstairs. But once everyone had the information, they all came upstairs,

ran. After the huge flood had already arrived, I too, leaving the control room,

went outside to save myself. At high speed,

I rushed out. Once outside, I met Kabir Maharjan sir, who

is now in the hospital. I met him.

Holding hands, the two of us made it up to the sixth floor. We didn't follow the lower route.

We had already learned that water entered through the lower route.

We followed the upper route. By the time we reached the sixth floor, the water had become so huge

that it hadn't spared the upper route either. There were huge logs there,

and it swept along all sorts of other things. Before the water came, a tunnel-like gust of wind

came, and hit us. I had my mobile in my hand,

and that was gone too. Our hands

were separated too. I didn't know where he went, or where I went.

And all I remember is that, there on the stairs,

the water tossed and flung me to the fifth floor. On the fifth floor,

it took me into a room full of sand. When the water filled up there, I rose to the top.

When I reached the top, it was up to the ventilation. Up to the ventilation,

I spent two or three days there. Now, outside, there was a lot of water

Where could I go and get into trouble? Two or three days passed.

And then

the water stopped coming through the cable. Sixth floor

had dried up. Then I got out of there, feeling my way along.

The walls were dark. We had no source of light with us.

And then, on the sixth floor,

I went near the stairs, toward the upper ceiling. Like on the sixth floor,

I lay down. Through a struggle, I would say,

I managed to get inside. And once I got there,

there was no water, it was dry anyway. There was cold, cold

sand and big pieces of wood. I rested there for a while.

Then I said, now that I've come here, the cable tunnel is also on this

floor. Let's try to go there. And then, toward the cable

tunnel, if I went a little farther, the previous experience I had was that it should be at the cable tunnel's

distance and at whatever height,

it was.

The water had not allowed such a structure to remain. It had ruined and demolished it, creating something entirely

different. So my experience didn't work.

There. And I thought, going any farther into the mud

and getting stuck there, in that darkness, with the stream water rising even more

was no good.

Who knows what snakes or insects might have washed in?

Why take that risk? I decided to leave. After backing up,

I went back and started waiting. Then I came to a dry place.

There was a large log. It was cold below. If I lay down there, there was five feet of water by the side.

Because of the cold, I wasn't fully clothed, I was wearing a half-sleeved shirt.

It was very cold. There was a log. I lay down on it.

The water was right there on the side.

They brought water in a bottle. We drank it

after filtering it. It was raining too, and the water was muddy.

There was mud mixed in it too. It was hard to drink. Still,

we filtered it through cloth

and drank it. Meanwhile, we would chat and talk with Kabir sir.

He was right nearby. And on the last day, when the rescue

happened, for ten to twelve hours beforehand, we...

When we began to hear the sound of JCBs from outside in the tunnel, we felt a little encouraged,

and had some hope that our friends were coming to rescue us somehow.

The Nepali Army was involved in our rescue

operation. We came to believe it,

but I didn't realize the Nepali Army

had already come close to rescue us. Because at that time, I

was asleep, I had already fallen asleep. And Kabir Maharjan

sir was above, on top of the tunnel, where he was trapped,

above the cable. And it was difficult for them to get him out,

for them.

Then there was a commotion. Nearby, a searchlight came on. Then my sleep

was disturbed. I suddenly saw many lights shining over there in the tunnel. People

were making noise. When I woke up, I too moved a little closer there.

I saw people, so I waved my hand to show that I

was here too.

Then they left Kabir sir, and it was easier to rescue me instead.

If anyone was to be pulled out, I should've been pulled out first. We had half an hour's time.

If only we had had half an hour, we would have saved everyone. Every

single one. Not one person would have been lost, in half an hour. Half an hour

was all we needed. If we'd had half an hour, we could have brought them out of the tunnel to the highest

point. The mountain was nearby, but it was through a very

arduous effort that the Nepal Army rescued us.

There was only this much space at the bottom of the tunnel.

They lay on top of it, then carried us on their backs and pulled us with ropes.

It was indeed a difficult process, the rescue process, as I

saw.