Landslide that skirted two homes

(Left) Sandip Rana outside his home; Balkrishna Sharma at Tingling
on Wednesday morning. Pictures by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhettri, TT: Tingling, July 1: Balkrishna Sharma cheated death by barely two feet last night.

Limbu Gaon in Tingling, where the maximum deaths have been reported in the landslide, is where Sharma lives. His entire neighbourhood has been washed away. So has the bathroom and kitchen of Sharma's house, which is not attached to the main house.

At the bottom of the slope, Sandip Rana also escaped by a whisker.

Neighbourhood gone

The landslide at Tingling started about 200ft above Balkrishna's house.

"Above my house was the house of my uncle Ram Lal Sharma. That was completely washed away. It was between 2.30 and 3am. I heard this thunderous sound, and within seconds my kitchen and toilet were gone."

Balkrishna who lives with three sisters - Jay Kumari, Hari Maya and Rekha - came out of the house.

"We started shouting to see if everyone was safe. I do not know who all replied. It was very scary. It was raining and dark outside."

Balkrishna's main house was saved by two feet.

"That was the distance between life and death," he said this morning as rescue workers looked for bodies.

Twelve bodies have been found. Seven of Balkrishna's neighbours, mostly tea garden hands, are missing. The slide in Tingling happened inside Singbuli tea estate.

Concrete saviour

Sandip Rana was wide awake when the hill came rolling down.

"From the time it started raining, my family and I could not sleep. We were chatting about different things and coming out of our house once in a while to check if things were fine," Sandip said.

"We heard a thunderous sound and within moments, the glass panes in our house shattered. There was a big thud on the walls," said Sandip, whose house is of concrete.

Balkrishna's house is made of wood.

Within moments, the entire Rana family - parents and three brothers - were out of their house.

"We started shouting and we heard a voice of our neighbour Rodha. He was shouting for help," Rana said.

Someone in the family and other villagers managed to climb up about 100 feet from their house.

"There we found that half the portion of Rodha's house had been wiped off. Rodha's father, Bharat, was slightly covered with mud but his wife Rewati and Rodha's sister Tanish were fine. We slowly started rescuing them. All of them have been admitted to hospital with minor injuries," Rana said.

The sliding mud fortunately curved past Rana's house by a few feet, saving the family.

The concrete wall of Rana's house, however, could withstand the impact of some slush that struck Rana's house.

DEATHS

Twenty-seven bodies that have been identified

Mirik municipality

• Ranjit Khapangi, 56  
• Sarita Thapa, 13  
• Mangal Singh Thapa, 60   
• Dilmaya Thapa, 60  
• Puspa Devi Prasad, 42  
• Pooja Kumari Prasad, 21  
• Rakhi Kumari Prasad, 19  

Mirik block 

• Champa Tamang, 66 
• Anjil Tamang, 24  (Sukhiapokhari block )

Tingling (Limbu Gaon)

• Subash Allay, 63  
• Suhama Thapa (Allay), 34 
• Soney Thapa (Allay), 36 
• Mahesh Sharma, 40 
• Sangita Thapa, 45 
• Mohan Lal Thapa, 50 
• Nawraj Sharma, 16 
• Phulmati Sharma, 80 
• Kewal Thapa, 19 
• Sitamaya Subedi, 75  
• Krishna Prasad
• Subedi, 45  
• Bhagimaya Allay, 60

Kalimpong subdivision

• Alisha Rai, 18 
• D. Doma Sherpa, 14 
• Jai Prakash Rai, 60 
• Amrit Rai, 9 
• Sanjay Gazmer, 30  
• Priya Sarki, 25