Rajendra Dawadi, headteacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in Nuwakot, Nepal, evacuated 900 children from the school just moments before a deadly flash flood hit their town. Mr Dawadi decided to halt classes and move students to higher ground after receiving multiple warnings about the approaching floodwaters.
The school, which has 1,600 pupils, was evacuated after Mr Dawadi received four warnings within minutes, including one from Betrawati, a town upstream. He stated that delaying the decision by 10 minutes would have resulted in a catastrophic outcome for those at the school.
A 16-year-old student, Yunisha, reported surviving by just 10 seconds. She described seeing the bazaar swept away as children ran up a muddy path to escape. The floods, caused by a glacial collapse in the Nepal-Tibet border region, have killed 781 people and left thousands missing. At least 69 schools have been destroyed or damaged, affecting nearly 19,000 children.