Guwahati: Eight workers from Assam who were rescued from flash floods in Nepal returned to the state early Monday under police escort from Siliguri. After being stranded on high ground and later airlifted to Kathmandu, the survivors began returning to their homes in different districts, officials said.Several of the workers were employed at the under-construction Upper Trishuli Hydropower Project near the Nepal-China border. According to the returnees, five Assam workers employed at the project were still missing.When the flash floods struck, the workers fled to nearby hills and managed to save their lives. Two of them, Samar Bezbaruah and Pankaj Barman, reached their homes in Nalbari district on Monday afternoon. Soneswar Narzary, another worker from Dokmoka in Karbi Anglong who was employed at the Trishuli project, was expected to reach his native village around midnight on Monday.The state govt confirmed Narzary’s safety on Saturday, three days after the disaster struck.“Fearing that another flash flood could wash us away, I spent three days on top of the hills along with workers from Nepal and Bihar,” Narzary told TOI on Monday. By Monday evening, he had reached Sonapur police station near Guwahati, where a police team from Dokmoka arrived to escort him home.“Nearly 150 of us remained stranded on the hills for three to four days. The police and local administration provided us with water and biscuits,” Pankaj said.Pranab Bezbaruah, Samar’s younger brother, said police brought Samar and Pankaj to Nalbari police station, where their family members received them.“We cannot put our happiness into words. After the flash flood struck Nepal on Wednesday, we had no idea where they were or whether they were safe. For two agonising days, until Friday, we remained completely in the dark. It was only after rescuers found them that we finally learned they were alive,” Pranab said.Samar Bezbaruah and Pankaj Barman, both from Nalbari district, were confirmed safe on Friday. Contact was established on Saturday with Silva Marak, Sarbison Marak and Elipson Marak of West Karbi Anglong, and Soneswar Narzary of Karbi Anglong. Two other workers, Gautam Das and Gopal Chandra Debnath, were confirmed safe on Sunday. All eight survivors returned to Assam on Monday.CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday the state govt had made arrangements to bring back the eight workers. A police team from Assam’s Dhubri district had already left for Siliguri in West Bengal to escort them home.ASDMA said on Sunday evening that 18 people from Assam were stranded or missing in Nepal’s flash floods. Nine had been confirmed safe, while contact had yet to be established with the remaining nine.
