The five seconds that saved Krishna in Dhorpatan flooding, but his friend goes missing

Kathmandu - Krishna witnessed the flooding at Dhorpatan in the district on Wednesday night that killed 14 people and led to over 41 others missing. The missing people include one of his friends named Nabin Bhandari. Krishna and his three friends--Dilu Khadka, Indra and Nabin--on Wednesday devised a plan to tour Dhorpatan on two motorcycles (two on each). They started their journey on Wednesday noon from Galkot. They reached Burtibang bazaar through the Mid-Hill Highway.

After having snacks there, they changed their destination to Rukum through Nisikhola as they heard from local people that the road leading to Dhorpatan got damaged. However, they left for Dhorpatan through the Saljhandi-Dhorpatan road after finding that the road leading to Rukum was also damaged. "We decided to push our way forward from Bobang after we found that the road was in good condition.

We reached Lakuribot at 5 pm," said Krishna. Upon reaching Lakuribot which lies in Dhorpatan municipality-9 where the flooding took place, it started raining and they decided to take shelter in a hotel there. "We had decided to stay at Phalleghar and we thought that we could reach Dhorpatan on foot from there. However, we stayed at Lakuribot as we found the hotel was well managed," he said. They booked a room on the upper floor of the hotel building. Rain continued. They decided to take a dinner. They had asked the hotel owner to make Dhido (traditional food of Nepal).

"We were coming down to take dinner. But a gush of the water already entered the hotel. Immediately, we along with the hotel owner and neighbours came out sensing risk," he said. The water flow in the local Bhuji river touched the suspension bridge a while upward from the hotel. Krishna and his friends suggested that the hotel owner took out goods and materials and went to safety as the hotel building was at risk of being swept away. They also decided to shift themselves to a hill nearby along with their motorcycles to avoid the disaster. "Dark fell all around. The river roared. We heard that people around were screaming 'our houses are washed away'. We were coming out of the hotel. Nabin's motorcycle was a bit ahead. I also started my bike. However, the flood reached us in a while," he said.

Krishna said that he ran away towards upside by leaving the motorcycle there. Dilu and Indra also ran away towards safe place to save their lives. However, Krishna, Dilu and Indra met with each other only after one hour, Nabin did not come in their contact. He said, “That five second saved our life. Otherwise, the flood would have swept us away.” Nabin went missing when he was trying to head towards safer place on his motorcycle. His motorcycle has not been found yet. Krishna added that they searched for Nabin the whole night. He further said, “We three however managed to save our lives.

But we are feeling that there is no meaning of being alive without our close friend. We are feeling very sad.” He related the incident: “The flood had started entering towards the settlement around 11:00 pm”, saying they had never imagined such incident. Krishna said that they had gone there for the first time and did not know about the geographical condition. A team along with ward chairperson had reached the incident site for search and rescue of the missing soon after knowing the incident. Chairperson of Galkot municipality-3, Birjung Bhandari, said they have rescued three persons and have been kept at Burtibang.

A search for Nabin is underway. Nabin is resident of Galkot municipality- 4 while three others are from ward no-3. The flood has also damaged Lakuribote hotel. The flood has damaged more than one dozen of houses and some locals have gone missing. A huge loss of lives and property was damaged at Lakuribot, Suprang, Bhusunde, Phalleghar and other settlement due to the flood.

According to the District Police Office, bodies of 14 people have been found so far. Police Inspector at the Area Police Office, Burtibang, Prakash Singh Bhandari, said that search for the missing people is underway. Locals of the flood-hit areas are waiting for relief and resettlement.