- Ashutosh Upadhyaya, 22, survived catastrophic floods at a Nepal powerhouse in Rasuwa district
- He witnessed 30-40 people being swept away as he waited to be rescued
- "It didn't seem like we would survive," the man, recounting the episode, told NDTV
He was, like other days, headed for work in the powerhouse located in Nepal's Rasuwa district last week. Suddenly, flood waters appeared out of nowhere, triggering panic among the workers.
"Bhago, bhago paani aa raha hai idhar powerhouse main (Run, run, water is coming into the powerhouse)," people could be heard saying, recounted Ashutosh Upadhyaya, the 22-year-old from Gorakhpur who survived the catastrophic flooding that has killed more than 1,200 people and left nearly 4,800 missing in Nepal and China's Tibet region.
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He returned to his home Pipraich in Gorakhpur this week.
Ashutosh Upadhyaya, the 22-year-old Nepal floods survivor is back home in Gorakhpur's Pipraich
"Subha gaye powerhouse main kaam karne, apne apne job pe sab jaa rahe the. 9:30 baje ke time main paani aane laga udhar powerhouse ke andar, light cut gaya, sab halla karte hue powerhouse ke bahar bhaga (We went to work in the morning. It was around 9:30 when water started flooding the building and the power went out. Amidst the commotion, everyone rushed outside)," Upadhyaya, now back home and wearing a soft pink T-shirt with his hair falling across his forehead, told NDTV.
Ashutosh Upadhyaya, the Nepal floods survivor, speaks to NDTV
Upadhyaya, seated on a wooden cot surrounded by his family members, said as the flood waters started rising, the workers climbed a small mountain.
"There was a worker named Rahul; he met his end right there inside the powerhouse. He simply couldn't get out," Upadhyaya said, who had been in Nepal in March.
"The flood waters swept away 30-40 people," Upadhayaya, who was standing atop a small mountain waiting to be rescued, told NDTV.
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A rescue team arrived after 24 hours and took them all away to the Trishuli Army Camp where they were medically examined.
"The water pressure was immense. It didn't seem like we would survive," Upadhaya said, adding he had never seen anything like this.
"Just thinking about it is scary," he said.
After the medical check-up, Updadhyaya and others were accommodated in a hotel in Kathmandu.
There was another problem: the documents too were lost in the flood.
"We had lost all our identification documents, but after obtaining replacements from the embassy, we were able to travel and cross the border," he said.
His company arranged the transportation till the border and even gave him Rs 10,000 for travel.
"We traveled from there to the border; we were dropped off at the border, and then we crossed into India," he said.
Upadhyaya's parents went through a nervous 24 hours without any information about their son.
"We spoke on the 25th. He doesn't call during the day; he calls in the evening. We were worried. I got a call on the evening of the 26th. He said, 'Mom, I'm fine,'" Manju Devi, his mother, told NDTV, fighting back tears.
Not believing, she asked for a video from him.
"I am happy that my child has come back to us. We won't let him go anywhere," she said.
Nepali army personnel and rescue teams, including foreign experts, meanwhile continued to search for survivors feared trapped inside several hydropower tunnels.
The work is ongoing using excavators and other heavy equipment to look for any survivors in the tunnels, the army said.
(With inputs from Abrar Ahmed)
