Natalia Rjumin-Girardet, a 70-year-old Swiss yoga teacher, recounts her harrowing experience of narrowly escaping deadly flash floods in Nepal while on a spiritual journey to Mount Kailash in Tibet. The disaster, caused by a glacial collapse, struck as she was traveling by bus with a group of pilgrims along the Bhotekoshi River. 'We were incredibly lucky,' she said, attributing their survival to divine providence.
A Narrow Escape
Rjumin-Girardet described the moment the disaster struck: 'Suddenly, I saw the (group's) cook jump out of the bus window. Someone else opened the door and I saw a huge mountain... in the fog.' She soon realized that the'mountain' was a massive wave of water and mud. 'I saw everyone start running, so I started running too,' she recounted, her voice still trembling from the ordeal.
Fortunately, a small, concrete staircase stood next to where the bus had come to a halt, allowing the group to escape. They ran up a nearby hillside, though none of them remembered how they reached higher ground due to the shock. 'Those stairs saved us,' Rjumin-Girardet emphasized. 'We were incredibly lucky.'
Aftermath and Reflection
After ensuring her safety, Rjumin-Girardet turned around to witness the devastation below. 'I saw houses, cars and even buses being swept away by the wave,' she said. The group spent the first night after the flood huddled in a small barn on a hilltop, in the cold and rain. The next morning, a helicopter evacuated them to Kathmandu.
The flash flood, triggered by a glacial collapse on August 26, has resulted in over 1,100 confirmed deaths and nearly 4,500 people missing. Rjumin-Girardet and her group view their survival as a miracle. 'It was divine providence that allowed the group to stay alive,' she insisted. Reflecting on the experience, she hopes it will inspire greater compassion in the world. 'Perhaps our world could change a little for the better,' she said.
