Anjana Raja and her partner, Pattabiraman Venkatesan, both from the San Francisco Bay Area, experienced a life-threatening ordeal during a pilgrimage to Tibet. On Wednesday, they faced a powerful flash flood caused by a glacier collapse in the Himalayas. Nearly 600 people have lost their lives due to this disaster, with around 2,500 missing as rescue teams continue searching for survivors.
The couple recalled their terror as they saw a massive wave of water hurtling towards them while traveling through Nepal’s Rasuwa District near the China-Nepal border. Venkatesan described the approaching wave as resembling a dark tsunami, igniting fear and panic.
“I knew I was going to die,”Raja expressed to CBS News.
As the onslaught of water and debris hit the village of Timure, both Raja and Venkatesan made a quick decision to flee their tour bus. They sprinted towards higher ground, witnessing the destruction of homes and hearing screams of those caught in the flood below. The couple, with guidance from a local, managed to climb to a flat area on a mountain top. They endured a cold night in a goat shed among other survivors, waiting for rescue.
Remarkably, all the passengers from their tour bus survived, a fact Raja and Venkatesan attribute to sheer luck. Reflecting on their survival, Venkatesan said the experience has profoundly influenced his perspective on life. He emphasized the importance of acting right and leaving the rest to fate.
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