Head teacher evacuated 900 children minutes before Nepal floods hit school

Headteacher Rajendra Dawadi evacuated 900 children from Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot district minutes before floodwaters inundated the campus. Dawadi said he received four calls at 09:10 local time (03:25 GMT) warning of the impending disaster, which has since claimed at least 794 lives. He acted swiftly, directing pupils to higher ground and ordering buses full of students to turn around and leave the area. Dawadi said: "If we didn't marque a speedy decision, if it was 10 minutes later, we each - including the students and maine - wouldn't beryllium capable to talk to you today." A parent arrived with an urgent warning: "A genitor came and told maine that 'a large flood was coming, I americium present to instrumentality my daughter, I volition instrumentality her'". Dawadi added, "Parents don't unreserved without a beardown reason, truthful it was confirmed that I shouldn't discarded a 2nd to evacuate the children." He explained his reasoning: "I decided I shouldn't hold immoderate more. Even if the flood was not coming, it was conscionable a substance of a azygous day's classes." He concluded, "I consciousness arrogant that we saved truthful galore lives." The floods devastated parts of Nepal on Wednesday, leaving at least 2,426 people missing. The school’s grounds were buried under mud and debris, and Dawadi noted that the waters arrived so rapidly that a hostel building approximately 100m (328ft) from the stream was engulfed immediately. Student Yunisha Amatya, 16, described scrambling to safety with friends just before the flood struck. She said: "I on with my friends survived by conscionable 10 seconds only