Saree became lifeline for 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims in Nepal flood escape

A saree lowered from a mud-covered embankment became a lifeline for 21 mostly elderly Tamil Nadu pilgrims during a flood escape in Nepal. The survivors reached Chennai from Kathmandu on Friday night, recounting a harrowing journey that required them to scramble from their bus, climb through mud and thorny undergrowth, and wait for evacuation.

However, the remaining members of their three-bus group and a separate group of 49 pilgrims from Chennai were unaccounted for on Saturday. Navu Kabirdas and his wife Vijaya Bhuvaneswari, residents of Murugu Nagar, recounted their survival as feeling like a rebirth. Their bus, the second in a convoy of three, had stopped for repairs when it was struck by falling rocks and floodwater.

The Nepalese driver ordered everyone to evacuate, and Bhuvaneswari witnessed the bus behind them tilting before fleeing. Among the 21 survivors, most were over 50 and had to climb a one-storey-high muddy rise, repeatedly slipping and falling. A woman named Poongodi lowered a saree towards the others, who held onto it to climb. They were rescued by a military helicopter and eventually reached Chennai, with some losing their documents in the ordeal.

Tamil Nadu officials are working to locate the remaining missing pilgrims, with over 400 from Tamil Nadu traveling to Nepal, and 90 still unreachable.