A Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage became a fight for survival when 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims were caught in Nepal’s devastating flash floods near the China border.
BY PC Bureau
August 29, 2026: A pilgrimage to one of Hinduism’s holiest destinations turned into a fight for survival for 21 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu when a sudden flash flood and landslide struck their bus near Nepal’s border with China.
The group was travelling through the Rasuwagadhi region on August 26 as part of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra when torrents of water, mud and boulders came crashing down the mountainside.
“It felt like a tsunami falling from the mountains,” one survivor recalled.
Within moments, the Himalayan landscape had become a torrent of mud and debris, with roads and buildings swept away and the pilgrimage route transformed into a disaster zone.
The worst destruction was reported around Rasuwagadhi and Timure, close to the Nepal-China border, where an entire market area was devastated.
Among those caught in the disaster were Tiruchirappalli residents Vallinayaki and Karpagam. The women were travelling by bus towards the Chinese border when a massive landslide struck.
They described seeing what appeared to be a thick cloud of smoke rushing down the mountain. It was not smoke, but a terrifying mass of mud, rocks and debris.
With no immediate help available, the 21 passengers escaped through the driver’s side of the bus and began climbing a steep mountainside to get away from the floodwaters.
The safe return of 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims rescued from the devastating Nepal floods has brought a moment of immense relief and gratitude. The rescued survivors have expressed their heartfelt thanks to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and the TVK government for their swift response,… pic.twitter.com/XWVPpz3GCN
— geethu_speaks (@geethu_speak) August 29, 2026
As some of the women struggled to climb the rugged terrain, the group improvised a lifeline. They used a sari to pull one another up the slope, helping everyone reach higher ground.
It took nearly two-and-a-half hours before they reached a rescue centre.
The pilgrims, part of a larger group undertaking the sacred Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, were eventually evacuated and brought safely back to India on Friday.
Another rescued pilgrim from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh said the floodwaters came within about 100 metres of him.
“It was very serious,” he recalled, adding simply: “God helped me.”
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‘Nepal Army saved us’
The survivors credited the Nepal Army and local authorities with helping them escape the disaster zone.
The pilgrims were first taken to Kathmandu before travelling to India via New Delhi. They arrived in Chennai on an Air India flight late Friday and were reunited with families who had spent days anxiously awaiting news.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met the rescued pilgrims in Delhi and said the Nepal Army had evacuated them from a “very difficult place”.
The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu coordinated their return.
This is not just a flood…
This is a devastating Maha Pralay — a catastrophic deluge. 🌊💔Anyone who managed to survive this terrifying natural disaster in Nepal,
consider them blessed — as if they have lived seven lifetimes in one lifetime…! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/dAEgCxNJfF— DILIP KUMAR 🇮🇳 (@DILIPKUMAR9990) August 29, 2026
India continues search for nationals
The safe return of the 21 pilgrims came as India continued efforts to locate hundreds of nationals affected by the floods.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said 320 Indian nationals remained “uncontactable”, while around 100 people of Indian origin were also yet to be reached.
At the same time, contact had been established with around 400 Indian citizens on the Chinese side of the border, all of whom were reported safe.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of our Indian citizens and providing all possible assistance to Nepal as per their request,” Jaiswal said.
India has also provided humanitarian assistance to Nepal, including food, medicines, blankets, solar lamps and other essential supplies.
🚨BREAKING NEWS
106 pilgrims from Maharashtra who were stranded in Nepal floods have safely been rescued , they have reached Bihar’s Sitamarhi after evacuation.
Bihar govt, People of Bihar and Bihar police are extending all help to them and are providing them food and all… pic.twitter.com/SA9XStfutV
— Amitabh Chaudhary (@MithilaWaaala) August 29, 2026
Nepal death toll rises to 626
The scale of the disaster continued to grow on Saturday.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported that the death toll had risen to 626, while 2,426 people remained missing.
The number of missing people was sharply higher than the 1,924 reported on Friday night.
The number of missing foreign nationals remained at 517.
The updated figures came three days after devastating floods swept through parts of Nepal, destroying settlements and infrastructure and leaving thousands in need of rescue.
Search and rescue operations continued across the worst-hit areas.
For the 21 Tamil Nadu pilgrims, however, the disaster has left a very different memory of their journey to Kailash Mansarovar — not of the sacred mountains they had set out to see, but of a mountainside collapsing around them, a wall of water and debris bearing down on their bus, and a desperate climb to safety using nothing more than each other’s strength and a sari.
