With devotion in their heart and smiles on their lips, 21 people from Tamil Nadu had embarked on a pilgrimage to Nepal days ago. Little did they know that the journey would soon turn into a fight for survival.
Nepal is battling its worst crisis in recent years after a glacial collapse unleashed a torrent of water, ice, rock and debris through the Himalayas this week, destroying villages along the Tibetan border and resulting in massive casualties.
On Friday, 21 pilgrims landed in India after a fight that initially seemed endless. As they walked out of Chennai Airport, they were seemingly experiencing different emotions at once: Emotional, panicked, and happy to be back home.
Vijayabhuvaneshwari, a survivor, recalled the moment the tragedy struck. Sharing the account of how the disaster unfolded, she told NDTV: “There was a loud noise, like a bomb blast, when the flash floods struck our convoy of three buses. The vehicle in front of us and the one behind us locked our vehicle, and we climbed on top to save ourselves. Then we climbed the hill where there was an Armed Reserve Police camp. The police helped us and gave us shelter”.
She revealed that she was only thinking about her daughter the whole time.
News18 Also Covered: Nepal Soldiers Crawl Through Thick Mud To Rescue People Trapped In Trishuli Tunnel | Video
For Kirubathiri, the experience was nothing short of a second birth.
“It is a new birth for me. I cannot complain. Climate change is real, and the poor always pay a heavy price for the climate wrongs of others,” she said.
Vallinayaki described the situation as similar to a “volcanic eruption”.
“It was a miraculous escape. It was like a volcanic eruption of concrete, devouring us,” she told NDTV.
A teary-eyed pilgrim recalled how the Nepalese Army helped those stranded in damaged buildings and under debris.
VIDEO | Tamil Nadu: After arriving at the Chennai airport from flood-hit Nepal, pilgrims say, “The Nepal Army helped us a lot. The four Tamil Nadu ministers also helped us after arriving in Delhi.”
(Full video available on PTI Videos-https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) pic.twitter.com/4zX99g4wCE
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 28, 2026
“The Nepal Army helped us a lot. The four Tamil Nadu ministers also helped us after arriving in Delhi”, she told the news agency PTI.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu Minister Narayanasamy Anand and Minister D Sarathkumar receive the group of 21 pilgrims from the state at Chennai Airport who had been rescued from the floods in Nepal pic.twitter.com/2pLfryDYmT
— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2026
Tamil Nadu Minister Narayanasamy Anand and Minister D Sarathkumar welcomed the 21 pilgrims who arrived at Chennai Airport on Friday.
Nepal Floods
An 11-member Indian team reached Nepal on Saturday to assist local authorities in rescue operations following the devastating floods that tore through several villages along the Tibetan border, killing over 500 people and leaving thousands unaccounted for.
The death toll from the flooding in Nepal has surged to 579, while more than 2,400 remain missing on both sides of the border. The missing tally stands at 1,924 in Nepal and 558 in Tibet, including more than 540 foreign nationals, many of them Hindu pilgrims from India.
