Bengaluru: A delayed passport may have saved the lives of two Karnataka pilgrims after a flash flood in Nepal swept away a bridge and killed or stranded travellers on the route to Kailash Mansarovar.Mallinath K of Kalaburagi believes the delay in receiving their documents proved to be “God’s gift”, as an earlier departure from Kathmandu could have put him and his son-in-law at the immigration centre in Tibet that was washed away in the flood.Mallinath and his son-in-law, Sangamesh, 30, arrived in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, on Aug 21 for their pilgrimage to Mansarovar. While waiting for their visas to continue the journey, they did some sightseeing in Nepal. On Aug 26, everything was in place and they set out by bus with 26 others, most of them from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.“We had finished about three hours of the journey and were in a place called Battar when we heard a loud, unusual sound. Then appeared what looked like a billow of smoke. Within seconds, we realised it was a huge volume of water, bigger than anything we had seen. We could see boulders being moved and thrown all over. The gushing water destroyed a bridge right in front of our eyes. It was approximately 200 metres away from us,” a shaken Mallinath recalled Thursday.Had their bus travelled a little farther, the group could have been caught in the deluge. Mallinath credited the driver for his presence of mind. “Our driver immediately reversed the bus, and we stopped at a place which was at a slightly higher altitude. We had to stay there for an hour. In the meantime, he made many calls and once he ensured that we had clearance on the way back, we came back to Kathmandu,” he said.But the experience left Mallinath shaken. “There were two buses in front of us which disappeared as we were watching. I kept thinking, if we had left just 10-15 minutes earlier, it could have been our fate too. I could not sleep the whole night as I kept recalling the terrifying scene,” he said.The duo is now working out return plans. Back home, Mallinath’s family heaved a sigh of relief after learning that he and Sangamesh were safe.On Thursday morning, Mallinath spoke to chief minister DK Shivakumar over a video call. Shivakumar assured him of help in facilitating their return.
They were on a bus along with 26 other people, most of whom were from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
