By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-08-30 09:20:49 | Updated at 2026-08-30 10:38:15
1 hour ago
A hero teacher saved over 1,600 children from the Nepal floods as the death toll now exceeds 700 people.
Rajendra Dadabi, head teacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, a three-storey school in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal, made the heroic call to evacuate classrooms after being informed by a friend five miles upstream that their town village had been devastated by the flash flooding that took place on Wednesday.
Mr Dabadi said he received a panicked call from a friend: “He said the village was gone: taken by the river. He told me to run.”
The 47-year-old teacher knew that the school was 60 metres above the river and was structurally strong as it was built from concrete, and was the same height as the bridge that linked the village to the east bank of the river.
He recalled: “Then one of the parents came in and told me the water was rising fast, so I rang the bell and told the teachers to evacuate the classrooms.”
The actions that followed saved countless school children as Mr Dabidi recalled that the school buses were en route to the school, each carrying 80 children.
He continued: “I got through to all the drivers but one and told them to turn back. Then I saw the bus I hadn’t been able to contact coming across the bridge.
"By now, the water was in the school grounds — it was so fast — so I told him to turn around.
A hero teacher saved over 1000 children with his actions as the flood hit his school
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“It got to the other side just as the bridge collapsed,” he told The Times.
“One girl had a panic attack, so we put her on the back of a motorbike. The rest I sent uphill on foot, then followed.
“The school janitor, Mr Sultan Lama, gave me the keys then went back, I think, to close the doors. The river took him. The children were terrified, but their fear gave them the energy to run up the hill.”
The group fleeing the school watched on from under a bodhi tree as their school building was swept away by the deadly floods.
The death toll for the devastating floods has reached over 700
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The actions of the head teacher saved 1,643 children and all but one of the teaching staff.
Santos Pariyar, 32, a newly-appointed social history teacher, had come in early that day to teach extra classes before school and had just returned to his rented room beside the river to cook breakfast. He was washed away.
Locals have called Mr Dabadi a “hero” for his actions.
He is not as convinced; he said: “What else could I do?” as he surveyed the wreckage of the school on Saturday.
Thirty-three British nationals are believed to be among those missing, including a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.
The disaster was triggered by a glacier collapse on Wednesday and has devastated the Rasuwa district near Nepal's border with Tibet.
Destroyed bridges and around 25 miles of damaged roads have also severely hampered efforts to reach some of the worst-hit areas.
A British response team arrived in Nepal on Saturday.
