Saw death in front of our eyes: Indian-origin couple survives monster Nepal floods

When Anjana Raja saw a wall of water rushing towards their tour bus in Nepal's Rasuwa district, she did not think there was any way out. "I knew I was going to die," she recalled in an interview with CBS. High on survival instinct, they jumped off the vehicle and climbed a whooping 500 steps in a matter of few seconds to escape "death in front" of their eyes, all the while ensuring they had each other beside. "I just wanted him in my life," she said, referencing her partner Pattabiraman Venkatesan.The Indian-origin couple were on their first pilgrimage to Tibet when the Himalayan disaster unfolded around them. The couple, from the US's San Francisco Bay Area, had been travelling by bus through Timure, a Nepali village near the China border, when a torrent of water and debris suddenly came crashing down from the mountains.At first, they could not make sense of what they were seeing. Raja said the thing was 60 to 70 feet and "brown" and "dusty", while Venkatesan recalled thinking it to be a "forest fire"."We could not tell if there was an earthquake. We could not tell if there was an avalanche," he told CBS, adding that everything was unfolding a mere 50 feet from them. Raja noticed that their bus driver, conductor and two helpers were missing from the front of the vehicle. "They just jumped."That and the approaching gigantic wall were enough cue for the couple to jump out as well. Raja said she grabbed her partner by his collar and said, "Run." "I knew I was going to die."Anjana Raja and Pattabiraman Venkatesan, a couple from the San Francisco Bay Area who were on a pilgrimage to Tibet, told CBS News' @RamyInocencio that they had just passed Timure headed to the Nepal-China border when what looked like a tsunami pic.twitter.com/2yRAEIHsTL— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 29, 2026The moment they got out, it became clear what had arrived in Nepal. "The moment we got up...went up like 10 feet (up the hill), I could see this monster thing coming down," Venkatesan told CBS.Raja said that the first level they reached was a police base camp. The post and the people in them were washed away "right under my eyes," she added.Having little time to react, they sprinted towards higher ground and climbed. Along the way, they saw houses crumbling down, and people screaming and crying while being swept away by the monstrous floodwaters.The climb was dangerous, but thanks to a guide and pure adrenalin, they went up to a flat region at the top of a nearby mountain within seconds."So tall up, I don't know even how we climbed," Raja said. "It was really hard."Venkatesan described the climb as "narrow and so slippery" filled with mud, stones and rocks.She told CBS that throughout the journey, she did not let go of Venkatesan. "I made sure I had him...I kept grabbing him. I just wanted him in my life."The couple spent the night in a goat shed, huddled together with local residents and other tourists. The following day, they were airlifted to safety.Venkatesan is still shocked that they survived the carnage. He said it was "nothing short of a miracle".Not just the couple, everyone aboard their tour bus also survived.The devastating flash floods, which hit Nepal's mountainous region along the Tibet border on August 26, have ravaged the country. More than 600 people have died so far and 2,426 remain missing in Nepal, including 517 foreign nationals. The US State Department has said a total of 90 Americans are untraceable after the floods. On the Tibetan side, state-run media has confirmed five deaths so far and over 500 missing.- EndsPublished On: Aug 29, 2026 15:15 IST