Principal rescues 1,643 students during devastating floods in Nepal

A school principal rescued 1,643 students during devastating floods in Nepal.

At nine o'clock in the morning on August 26th, morning classes began at Tribhuvan Trishuli High School in Nepal. Nine hundred teenagers, aged eleven to eighteen, were already in the classroom. Another seven hundred younger students were heading to their second shift, scheduled to begin at ten o'clock in the morning, some on foot, others on school buses.

Rajendra Dawadi, 47, the school principal and English teacher, was teaching a lesson at the time. Suddenly, his phone rang. It was a friend from a village eight kilometers upstream on the Trishuli River. The man was calling in a panic, shouting that a huge torrent of water had already swept away houses and was moving at breakneck speed toward the school.

The school building was located approximately seventy meters above the river, which would seem to have eliminated any cause for panic. However, almost simultaneously, a frightened father of one of the students burst into the classroom, shouting about an impending flood and demanding that his daughter be picked up immediately. The principal also received several other alarming calls. Dawadi instantly realized there was no time to waste.

Realizing the mortal danger threatening the school, he turned on the emergency siren. The teachers were given strict orders: drop everything and immediately evacuate the children from the building to higher ground. Simultaneously, the principal began calling the bus drivers transporting the students. He managed to reach almost all but one and shouted into the phone, "Turn around! Get to the mountains immediately!"

The teachers acted professionally. In just ten minutes, they evacuated hundreds of children from the school. Panic and fear gave the students the strength to run up the slope. The evacuation to the mountains was so swift that some children ran barefoot, without even having time to put on shoes. The teachers forbade them to waste even a second getting ready and forced them to leave all backpacks and personal belongings in their classrooms.

The last school bus managed to cross the bridge at the very last moment. Just seconds later, the bridge's supports collapsed, completely submerging it.

Then a gigantic wave of mud and rocks crashed onto the school itself. The building was completely destroyed.

The principal's quick response saved the lives of more than 1,600 children.

Almost all the teachers and staff survived. However, unfortunately, there were casualties. The disaster claimed the lives of two school employees.

School caretaker Sultan Lama remained inside the school building to close the front door, but was swept away by the powerful current.