A pilgrimage cut short, loved ones swept away

Badri Prasad Devkota escaped the bus, but his wife did not. As floodwaters surged toward the vehicle at Bhainse in Nuwakot, he broke free from her grip and jumped through the door. Moments later, the bus disappeared beneath the torrent.

Devkota and his cousin, Tularam Devkota, were among six people who survived after jumping from the moving vehicle. They had joined 30 others from Majhtar in ward 5 of Palungtar Municipality, Gorkha, on a pilgrimage to Gosainkunda ahead of the Janai Purnima festival.

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I was sitting right behind the driver when a passenger in another seat asked him to stop so he could relieve himself.

The bus, registered as Ga 2 Kha 1152, was swept away by the Bhotekoshi River early Wednesday. Five days later, authorities had recovered two bodies, while 28 passengers remained missing. The vehicle had not resurfaced.

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I saw a dark plume of water that looked as if it would cover the entire sky.

Devkota recalled sitting behind the driver when another passenger asked the driver to stop. The driver continued as the bus travelled quickly. At a bend near Bhainse, the driver saw the floodwaters and froze. One passenger jumped out, and Tularam moved forward to see what had happened.

Devkota then saw what he described as a wall of dark, muddy water. He said his wife, Samjhana, held his hand and pleaded with him not to jump. He told her, "We will die here," before breaking free and leaping from the bus.

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We will die here.

The flood threw him into a roadside drainage ditch. He later saw Tularam clinging to a bush on the hillside. The two men pulled themselves up the slope and watched the bus vanish. Devkota said his wife and neighbours were still inside. Tularam returned home grieving for his missing wife, Tej Kumari. Both men survived, but their families remained among those missing.

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Covered in thick mud, we looked like wooden logs.