A Panvel-based family, travelling for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, narrowly escaped the flash floods in Nepal after leaving the affected area just hours before disaster struck. Speaking with mid-day, Ashwin Shah who had undertaken the pilgrimage in 2005 and therefore didn’t join this year, said his wife Anjana Ashwin Shah, son Dhiren Ashwin Shah, daughter-in-law Yukti Dhiren Shah, younger brother Jayant Shah, and sister-in-law Hansa Shah, were part of this year’s group. “They left the place around eight to nine hours earlier. All of them are now safe in Tibet,” he said.

Workers use excavators to clear sludge in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, on Thursday. PIC/PTI