Indians go off tourist trail, join rescue mission

LUKLARUMJATAR: They barely escaped death, but when they saw the tragedy of the Nepali people across villages near the Everest base camp, they stopped worrying about their rescue and extended a helping hand. With the Indian Army, Air Force and NDRF, Indian trekkers and Everest climbers did their bit to save lives when quake struck the hill country flattening towns and villages.
Mumbai-born Meenakhshi Shankaran was at Khumjung village on way to the base camp when tremors began. In front of her eyes, the village was decimated.At the first tremor, brittle houses built of roughly packed stones fell apart.“There was no help in sight.We were first scared for ourselves but when we saw the destruction, we rushed to save lives. Since men were out working, it was women and children who got trapped. We pulled out several of them with bare hands,“ says Shankaran an IT worker in California.
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Ahmedabad's Rinku Desai was trying her first trek from Labuche to Lukla when the ground began shaking. She was at village Phakding.“My hotel developed cracks and as I ran out a stone hit my leg and I was injured. I just wanted to go home then.When we saw so many houses in the village had fallen, we decided to help locals rescue those trapped.“
Desai says it was only on Wednesday that the first rescue team arrived in the area. “Thankfully we had good first aid which we used to provide relief to the injured. We shared our supplies with them,“ says Shankaran who had trekked 10 hours over two days to reach Lukla to be rescued herself.
Mumbai's Kuntal Joyshir whose video of the avalanche that hit the base camp has gone viral on Youtube says, “While so many died in the base camp, we felt the tragedy of the villagers was no less.Khunde is flat. Namche is badly hit while Deusa has no house standing. We did whatever we could.“
Narendra Yadav from Haryana, who describes how the avalanche threw a female climber against a rock and flung another down hill says the greatest tragedy is that the village of Sherpas, principle guides to Everest climbers, has suffered serious damage.“They are gatekeepers of the Mountain. It was harsh on them. It's unlikely there'd be any expeditions soon,“ he says. But Gyaljen Sherpa, who escaped death at the base camp, isn't worried. “I know there'll be no work for some time. Butthere are many mountains in Nepal.We'll manage,“ he says.