Biscuit seller stuck in chest-deep mud for three hours - Struck by tragedy at night, Mirik landslide survivor tries to recollect ordeal

Kamal Prasad at the Mirik block health centre on Wednesday.
Picture by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Mirik, July 1: A biscuit seller who was stuck chest-deep in mud for three hours survived the slide today but his wife and two daughters passed away in their sleep.

Kamal Prasad, too, was sleeping in his two-room house of tin and bamboo when a huge pile of mud crashed on them around 2am.

"I was in mud up to my chest and with great difficulty I could free my hands," Kamal said.

His wife Pushpa Devi, 42, and their two daughters - Pooja, 21, and Rakhi, 19 - were in the house in Mahendra Gaon in Mirik.

Neighbours and relatives have not told Kamal yet that his family is no more. He was told they, too, were being treated at the Mirik block health centre like him.

"My house is made of tin and bamboo and all I could see in the darkness was the tin sheet over my head."

The darkness stalled his rescue as relatives who came near their house could not see a thing.

Sriniwas Prasad, a relative of Kamal, said: "I stay barely half a kilometre away. We went to the spot around 3 in the morning but we could not see much. We were not sure of the family's whereabouts."

At first light around 5am, the relatives found Kamal in the mud. "He was conscious but was not speaking much. Villagers got together and pulled him out," Sriniwas said.

Kamal has not suffered any serious injury. "I just have a pain in both my legs, but I can walk," he said.

Asked if he had seen his family when he was stuck in the slush, Kamal said: "No, I didn't see them as a tin sheet was covering my head." The family is fine, he added.

"They suffered minor injuries and are being treated in this hospital."

Sriniwas pulled the correspondent and said later: "His family members are no more."

After Kamal was rescued, the local people pulled out the bodies of Kamal's wife and two daughters.

Apart from the family members, three others also died in landslides in the Mirik municipal area.

They are Mangal Singh Thapa, 60, his wife Dilmaya Thapa, 60 and their 13-year-old daughter Sarita Thapa.

Ranjit Khapangi, 56, from Mirik died of cardiac arrest when he went to see the landslide spot at Tingling, 7km away from Mahendra Gaon.

Kamal's was the only house that was completely crushed under a huge pile of mud and stone at Mahendra Gaon. A number of other houses in the area were partially damaged.