A teacher in Nepal has been hailed as a hero after saving the lives of more than 1,600 children when their school was swept away by a landslide during devastating floods.
Rajendra Dawadi, 47, acted quickly after receiving a phone call from a friend on Wednesday morning, who told him that a village five miles upstream had been taken by the river. He was then warned by a parent that water was rising fast towards Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal, which stood 200ft above the river.
Quick response saves pupils
With 900 pupils already at the school and 700 more on their way on foot and by bus, Mr Dawadi began calling the drivers of the buses on their way – managing to get through to all but one – and ordered them to turn back. The water had already started entering the school grounds when he spotted the last bus, which he told to turn around.
He said: “It got to the other side just as the bridge collapsed. One girl had a panic attack, so we put her on the back of a motorbike. The rest I sent uphill on foot, then followed.”
Rescue amid devastating floods
Mr Dawadi’s rapid response saved 1,643 children and all but one member of staff, with the survivors taking shelter under a bodhi tree on higher ground. Social history teacher Santos Pariyar, 32, who was new at the school, had come in early that day to teach extra classes and was washed away by the floods.
The floods and landslides have left 752 people dead and 2,502 missing, with a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy among 33 British nationals believed to be unaccounted for. Hundreds of bodies of victims are said to be “no longer” identifiable, and more than 3,700 people have been rescued so far.
Rescue efforts continue
Over the weekend, the Nepali army inserted a pipe into a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site, where more than 100 workers are understood to be trapped. Home minister Sudan Gurung said: “We have already started sending air through the small opening and we will now begin excavation work and send the rescue team inside.”
