Indian migrant builders survive flash flood that erased Nepal border town

On August 26 a flash flood swept through Syafrubesi, a market town near the Nepal-Tibet border, wiping out several multi-storey hotels and killing over 1,200 residents. Indian migrant workers Neyaz Miya and Mehadi Hassan, both from Bihar’s Bettiah district, were on construction shifts when the water surged; they ran uphill and later found each other among 60-70 other survivors. Their colleagues Arman Ansari, Samir Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari were never seen again, while two teenage boys, Salman Alam and Shibu Alam, were rescued but traumatized.

The army coordinated the evacuation, using helicopters to airlift the injured and moving survivors to a government school before transporting them to Kathmandu and then to Birgunj for border crossing. The disaster erased the town in moments, leaving the survivors to rebuild their lives and seek new work, while many families back in Turhapatti continue to rely on remittances from Nepalese employment.