Miraculous Escape of 21 Kumbakonam Pilgrims

Twenty-one pilgrims from the Kumbakonam region who survived the devastating flash floods in Nepal will arrive in Chennai late Friday night after being evacuated through Kathmandu and New Delhi. 

The pilgrims had travelled to Nepal as part of a 57-member spiritual tour group from Kumbakonam. The group was travelling in three buses when flash floods triggered by severe weather struck parts of Nepal.

One of the three buses escaped the floodwaters and was safely evacuated, with 21 passengers from Kumbakonam and surrounding areas



surviving the ordeal. Sivaranjani Muthunathan recounted their good fortune when they were heading towards the Chinese border but got stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam. "

Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us," Muthunathan, 46, said, showing a video she recorded on her phone of a torrent surging towards her. 

Vehicles were swept away or buried under mud around them. "One by one, we also climbed out through the driver's side," she said, recounting how she had then scrambled up a hill.