Nepal earthquake: IAF helicopter with 18 trekkers returns to cheers

KATHMANDU: The chopper returned from its most cheered sortie so far in earth-quake devastated Nepal on Tuesday. Eighteen trekkers, including an 11-year-old girl, to the Mount Everest Base camp touched down in Kathmandu from Lokula with a loud hurrah for the IAF.

The cheering evacuees, however, brought a taller order for the rescue operators: About 300 more trekkers/mountaineers — one-third of them Indians — remain trapped in Lokula. This information was met with a sudden downpour that put brakes on any further sortie to the upper reaches for the day.

While a group of 16 from a Pune adventure club remained within the confines of the military enclosure of the airport premises to share their happiness with the media, a young man and woman slipped out before the TV crew could catch them. TOI could speak to them.

Akash and Swati had begun their trek for the base camp from Lokula when the mountain terrain shook to kill and devastate. "Pheriche was destroyed before our eyes," Swati said, adding, "Lopuche was half destroyed."

"Gorakshep, the penultimate stop before the Base camp, is gone," Akash said. "Even though snowfall stopped after some time, we struggled to sleep. The cold helped in the vigil against aftershocks."

He recalled sleeping in open spaces as the stone houses were all locked. "It will be difficult (for rescue missions) to reach the upper reaches even now," he cautioned, while thanking rescuers. "The IAF have done a great job."

Shrawani Kulkarni, the Class VI schoolgirl and baby of the Pune group of adventurists, was afraid "thoda, thoda (just a little)". And the earthquake has failed to shake off her dream of scaling the Everest one day. Abhijeet, her father, recalled, "The trek from Lokula to the base camp was a 12-day schedule."

After trekking to Phakding on day one, the group reached Namche bazaar the next day for a day's rest. "We were roaming in the market when the quake struck," he recalled running towards the open. "The buildings collapsed in a heap."

The police evacuated them to a camp where tents were put up. "You see, there were repeat tremors," added Ashutosh Ashtekar, thanking the Indian embassy for arranging a private chopper to evacuate them to Lokula. "It was a safe place waiting for the IAF rescue mission."

Little Shrawani said, "I saw landslides for the first time.''