Faced with their worst nightmare when the tour bus rattled after the killer quake struck, a group of senior citizens from the city ran for their lives in Kathmandu thinking their Nepal visit was jinxed right from the start.
“Heavy rains lashed Muktinath temple and our vehicles dangerously navigated slopes of hills, slipping and threatening to plunge us down the valley. When we were on our way to Manakamna, cable-car’s cable gave away, injuring several visitors and forcing our group to abandon the visit. The earthquake was the final straw,” said M. Prabhakar Gupta, a 65-year-old retired government employee.
Around 26 people were part of his group headed by a tour operator from Malkajgiri. Another group of 11 persons who went to attend the Nepal Tattoo Convention is also on the way to city.
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Akhtar Sultan from Sindhi Colony in Secunderabad, who went to take part in the Tattoo Convention, termed his escape miraculous. “We were attending an event at a five-star hotel. All of a sudden the earth shook forcing us to run out. Within a few minutes we could see cracks in the building and some portion of the structure collapsed,” he recalled.
P. Prakash, a businessman from West Marredpally, went on pilgrimage along with his wife to different places in Nepal. The group started from the city on April 16 and reached Nepal the next day. “Our day began with a visit to the market. Then we visited the Pasupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. We just came out after offering the prayers when earthquake occurred,” Mr. Prakash said.
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Around 40 persons from Hyderabad were evacuated from Kathmandu on Saturday and flown to Delhi by special flights operated by the Central Government.
While most people from Telangana were brought back to the city by flights scheduled between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. about half a dozen could return only around 9 p.m.