A Nepali school principal rushed 1,643 children to safety after a warning that muddy floodwaters were surging towards their school. His split-second decision came as a glacier-triggered disaster tore through the region and left hundreds dead.
"He said the village was gone: taken by the river. He told me to run."
The warning came at 9:20 am on Wednesday from a friend to Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal's Trishuli Valley. He had 1,643 children in and around the three-storey school as a devastating flash flood, triggered by a glacier collapse, tore through mountain river systems.
Buildings, bridges and power stations were swept away as torrents of rock, ice, mud and debris surged through the region. About 2,498 people remain missing in Nepal, while another 546 are missing in Tibet's Gyirong County, according to the latest figures.
With the floodwaters rising rapidly, Dawadi, a 47-year-old English teacher, had just minutes to act. He was responsible for the children at the school in flood-hit Nuwakot that morning, and their safety now depended on his decision.
"He said the village was gone: taken by the river. He told me to run."
The warning came at 9:20 am on Wednesday from a friend to Rajendra Dawadi, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal's Trishuli Valley. He had 1,643 children in and around the three-storey school as a devastating flash flood, triggered by a glacier collapse, tore through mountain river systems.
Buildings, bridges and power stations were swept away as torrents of rock, ice, mud and debris surged through the region. About 2,498 people remain missing in Nepal, while another 546 are missing in Tibet's Gyirong County, according to the latest figures.
With the floodwaters rising rapidly, Dawadi, a 47-year-old English teacher, had just minutes to act. He was responsible for the children at the school in flood-hit Nuwakot that morning, and their safety now depended on his decision.
