Nepal boy, 8, clung to trees when floods hit, reunited with mother in hospital

An eight-year-old flood survivor was reunited with his mother after climbing trees to stay alive in Rasuwa. Their meeting underscored the wider scramble to trace children separated by Nepal's disaster.Zoyal Ghale, 8, who was airlifted from Rasuwa after being injured in the deadly flash floods and mudslide, speaks with his mother Matti Maya Tamang. (Image: Reuters)Zoyal Ghale, an 8-year-old boy who ran into a forest and climbed trees to escape Nepal's deadly floods, reunited with his mother on Friday after she had begun to fear that he and his brother had both perished at their school.A day earlier, authorities had airlifted Ghale alone from the devastated northern district of Rasuwa. He had a broken leg and cuts on his face. Meanwhile, his mother, 28-year-old Matti Maya Tamang, moved from one shelter and collection point to another in search of her two missing children."At the fourth place too, my children's names were not on the list, and they were not there," Tamang told Reuters. "I had come to accept that both my children were no more. All I could do was weep. I couldn’t hold myself together at all."At least 17,000 children have been affected by floods across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts north of Kathmandu, the UN children's agency UNICEF said. UNICEF added that it was working with Nepal's government to identify, register and reunite children separated from their families.PHONE CALL WITH REUTERS LEADS MOTHER TO SON Tamang and her family have been among the lucky ones. At least 580 people have been confirmed dead and around 2,500 are missing in Nepal and China's Tibet.After more unsuccessful searching, Tamang obtained the telephone number of Reuters journalist Sahana Bajracharya on Thursday. Bajracharya had met Ghale several hours earlier at a small hospital in neighbouring Nuwakot district. Bajracharya and a Reuters team had gone to the hospital after hearing about a young boy who had been taken there, while authorities did not know where his family was.Bajracharya spoke to Ghale before authorities airlifted him for further treatment. She said he agreed to be filmed in the hope of finding his family.Bajracharya left her number at the hospital, and Tamang called her some hours later.When Bajracharya told Tamang that Ghale was alive and had been transferred to Kathmandu, Tamang said she could barely believe it."When you told me that you knew where Zoyal was, it didn't sound real," she said. "I had already given up that I would find them."Tamang had already found her younger son alive as well."After I found the elder one, I felt my life was back," she said.UNRECOGNISABLE LANDSCAPEThe boys had gone to school on Wednesday morning in the school vehicle, while Tamang had begun weaving at home.She then heard what sounded like an earthquake.The floods were triggered when the lower part of the glacier near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak collapsed on Wednesday and tumbled into the valley floor below. The resulting avalanche of ice and rock triggered a massive landslide, according to videos shared on social media and verified by Reuters."I could see everything was being swept away," Tamang said. "I thought my children were getting swept away too."She tried to head towards their school, which normally took 15 to 20 minutes to reach by car, but said the landscape had become almost unrecognisable. The flood had destroyed the school building."You could not understand where the school was, where the market was," she said. "There was only water, stones and mud everywhere."The landslide sent water and debris through northern Nepal and into Tibet. Within minutes, entire communities were levelled.A BOY WITH 20 RUPEESReuters encountered Ghale at about 11 am on Thursday at the 15-bed Chakra Dev Hospital in Nuwakot. Nobody there appeared to know where his family was.Ghale had a broken right leg, while scratches and bruises covered his face. He tightly clutched two 10-rupee notes in his left hand.Police officers who had rescued him had given him the money to persuade him to go to hospital with them, officials said.Ghale said he had been studying at school when the flood struck. Suddenly, "it was so, so black", he recalled.He said he ran from the school into the forest with a friend and climbed into the trees to escape.Asked whether he had been frightened, he shook his head."No."MOTHER AND SON REUNITEDOn Friday, Tamang finally reached the Kathmandu hospital where Ghale had been transferred in the meantime, around two hours' drive from their home.With all bus lines suspended, Bajracharya arranged a vehicle for Tamang.After days of frantic searching, Tamang stood quietly beside her son's hospital bed. Ghale's father, a construction labourer in Japan, was also on his way, Tamang said.Wednesday's flood has transformed life in Rasuwa. But for Tamang, at least a degree of normality had already returned."Oh, he is always a mischievous kid," Tamang said. "This is not his first broken bone."- EndsPublished By: Akshat TrivediPublished On: Aug 29, 2026 09:42 IST