‘Ran for our lives’: Tales of survival from Nepal-China disaster

A woman salvages usable materials from her house deluged in sludge following flash floods at Devighat in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 28, 2026. Photo by ARUN SANKAR /AFP via Getty Images

Article content

Some survivors of the deadly floods on the Nepal-China border ran for their lives, others narrowly missed disaster, but all were eyewitnesses to a major calamity and its aftermath.

Article content

Rescue crews in helicopters have been plucking survivors from along the valleys ravaged in the tsunami-like flow of water and debris apparently unleashed by a glacier’s collapse.

Article content

Article content

Article content

More than 1,400 people were still missing on Friday — many of them foreign tourists — and over 550 people were dead.

Article content

Residents walk along a muddy road following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. Photo by Ezra Acayan /Getty Images

Article content

Article content

Here is what survivors told AFP:

Article content

‘Suddenly engulfed us’: the pilgrims 

Article content

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.

Article content

“Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” Muthunathan, 46, told AFP, showing a video she recorded on her phone of a torrent surging towards her.

Article content

Vehicles were swept away or buried under mud around them.

Article content

“One by one, we also climbed out through the driver’s side,” she said, recounting how she had then scrambled up a hill.

Article content

Another pilgrim who was on the bus, 53-year-old Vijayabhuvaneshwari, said: “We had no choice.”

Article content

“Every vehicle in front of us, behind us, was gone,” she told AFP.

Article content

“As we were climbing up, we could hear what felt like explosions,” she said, giving only one name. “They were rocks and boulders crashing.”

Article content

Article content

Article content

With older members of the group struggling to climb the bank, Poonguzhali Ponmambadan, 61, unwrapped her sari dress and gave it to her husband to use as a rope.

Article content

Article content

“He used it as a harness to lift several old people,” she said.

Article content

‘More died than were rescued’: dam worker 

Article content

Workers rescued from dam projects along the Trishuli valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying speed.

Article content

“There were at least 400 workers at the site,” Dev Shrestha, who was airlifted from the site where he was working, told AFP after his rescue. “More people died than were rescued.”

Article content

Worker Buddha Tamang said he survived only because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck — but he had managed to get out and reach help.

Article content

“I survived as I was in the tunnel,” said Tamang, who was airlifted on Thursday after being marooned for more than 24 hours.

Article content

“The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away.”

Article content

Damaged buildings are seen partially covered in heavy mud following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. Photo by Ezra Acayan /Getty Images

Article content

Another worker, Arjun Kumar Tamang, spoke of “massive damage” at the hydropower site where he had been.

Article content

“I don’t know how many people died but the force of the water swept everything away,” he said.