Pasang Ghising, 17, of Sindhuli Hariharpurgadhi Rural Municipality-1, Kokti, was at home till Monday afternoon. His mother, Chanchalimaya Syangtan, went to a local place called Kakare, about two hours' walk from home, to weed the paddy field. It was raining cats and dogs throughout the day that day. The Bagmati River and a rivulet near the rice field started roaring. As evening approached, she called her son Pasang and asked him to come and pick her up.
After being called by his mother, he left for the field around 5 pm. It was still raining. His mother was sitting in a shed in the field. "The rice field is around two hours' walk from home when the road is fine. That day, it took me almost three hours to reach the farm due to the slippery conditions of the road,” recalls Pasang.
When the rivers began to swell up, his mother went to stay at a relative's house in a place called Khurkot, presuming that her son would not come to pick her up. When Pasang reached the farm, he did not see his mother. After the people near the farm said that she went to a relative's house a little farther away from Kakare, Pasang returned home.
The current of the swollen Bagmati River flowing through the border of Sindhuli, Kavre and Makwanpur was very high, the rivulets which used to be dry at other times were roaring extremely. Pasang wondered how to get home. He had to go via Sikredovan to his home, Kokti of Sindhuli. When the rain got heavier, he stayed for a while at the house of Akkal Bahadur Syangtan, his uncle by relation, at Bagmati-5 Sikredovan in Makwanpur. It was almost 8pm in the night. It was still raining heavily, with no signs of subsiding.
“His uncle, Akkal Bahadur, said I should not walk at night when it is raining like this. Stay here today and leave early tomorrow, I didn't think I would be able to reach home either. That's why I stayed at Akkal Bahadur uncle's house that night", Pasang says, "We all had dinner. Cousin Shanti, who was married off to Kavre, brother-in-law, niece had also come to maternal home. After chatting for a while, we to bed around 10 pm."
"I woke up after being washed away by the rivulet"
Pasang, who was very tired after walking in the muddy trail, was fast asleep. He was awakened when the roaring Sikredovan's swollen rivulet was pushing his body towards the middle of the Bagmati River.
“I woke up to hear the roaring sounds. And then I found out that I was caught in the landslide and was being washed away,” Pasang recalls sitting in the hospital bed, “It wasn't even well lit. The river was filled with stones and wooden logs. I did not know how much time passed by, sometimes sinking in the water, sometimes swimming.”
He was saved when he tried to approach village
He mustered his courage to come out of the flood and save his life by any means. After nearly 12 hours of fighting with the Bagmati River, he forced his way to Ghatekulo, which leads to his village.
He says, "I forced my way to Ghattekulo (canal), thinking that if my relatives would see me, they would rescue me."
Needless to say, after a long and painful struggle, he managed to reach the canal leading to his village from the Bagmati River. His eyes were unable to see due to injuries caused by stones and pebbles washed away by the flood. The leg bones had pierced the skin. He felt as if he could walk then. But he couldn't. Then he crawled to the farm and got stuck.
“I kept waving my hand to find if anyone would notice him. No one was seen for a long time”, says Pasang, 'After a while, some people saw me and whistled. I waved. And they came and rescued me from there. If I had not been able to force my way to the canal, I would not have survived no matter how hard I tried.'
“Mother did not believe the news that I was alive”
Chanchalimaya couldn't believe it when she heard the news that the team that had been searching for her son in the flood for the whole day found him alive. She had lost her hope that her son would be found alive and was drowning in grief. After crying the whole day, she was shocked by the news that her son was found alive in the evening.
“It felt like a dream or a nightmare! Nobody thought that he would be found alive. It’s miracle that my son managed to survive,” she said, bursting with joy.
Pasang was rescued by fishermen
The police, armed police, Red Cross volunteers, local people's representatives and locals were there since morning to rescue the landslide victims. But they could not even imagine that the landslide would have swept the victims down that far. They searched around the house all day. But could not find the missing people.
But fishermen from Sindhuli found Pasang around 3 pm. They informed the people’s representatives. And the rescue team went to the incident site and brought him to Hetauda Hospital.
Three are still missing
Three more members of Akkal Bahadur's family who were washed away by the landslide along with Pasang are still missing. The bodies of Akkal Bahadur, his 55-year-old wife Shanta Kumari, and his daughter Sheela Syangtan, 22, (married off to Kavre) were found.
But Sheela's husband Jeevan Pahari, her 4-year-old son Milan Pahari and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Divya Pahari are still missing. A team of Nepali Army, Armed Police, and Nepal Police is searching for those three persons, reneltylessly.
