Johannesburg - South African couple Mike Sherman and Kate Ahrends “tasted” fear as car-sized boulders crashed around them when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook Nepal a week ago.
Sherman, 24, and Ahrends, 25, were found by relief-rescue organisation Gift of the Givers in Kathmandu on Friday night, six days after they went missing.
With them were their friends, Australian sisters Tess and Eliza Arnold. The group was going on a two-week hiking expedition through Langtang Valley when the disaster struck.
They were on the trail for less than four hours when their lives were changed forever.
The earthquake has left more than 6 200 people dead, over 11 000 injured and many more displaced and unaccounted for.
The four are currently being housed at a Gift of the Givers camp in Kathmandu.
Ahrends said the trekking was ended prematurely by the earth “vibrating and moving furiously”, before massive boulders the size of cars started falling from the mountains.
“We didn’t know what was happening. We were confused and panicking and just ran while covering our heads. Four of us had already made it over the suspension bridge which linked the two mountains,” she said.
Sherman said it was as if the mountains were exploding, as boulders ricocheted between the two mountain passes they were in.
At first they sheltered in an enclave beneath two boulders stuck between a narrow path.
A short while later, the couple, the Arnold sisters, two Italians and a Spaniard found a pair of Dutchmen and their Nepalese guide, who were part of another team.
They scrambled over landslides and debris down the mountainside to a “tearoom” – a small resort set up for hikers.
But they were too scared to go inside the buildings, other than to retrieve crucial supplies such as water, food and blankets to guard against the biting cold.
Instead, they built a makeshift shelter under a massive rock, using sheets of tarpaulin to keep the rain at bay.
There they stayed for six days.
“We didn’t want to go more than 20m away from the boulders because we were scared. When there were tremors we would huddle up together and try to keep each other calm and safe,” Sherman said.
Despite surviving the devastation of the initial earthquake, they were in constant fear.
Aftershocks, tremors and landslides were regular, prolonging their anxiety and fear.
Their rock shelter became their only place of safety, protecting them from what might have fallen down the mountainside.
The Cape Town couple said they felt despondent when the group shrunk and many were rescued, while they remained stranded.
Ahrends said the only thing that kept them going was the thought of their families.
“We were disappointed. Seeing some people leave while we stayed behind was sad,” Ahrends said.
Yet, there on the mountain they stayed until help came on Thursday evening, when they were airlifted by an American helicopter to an army camp in Dhunche region.
“The only emotions we felt during the six days were terror and fear – you could taste it – but we are also grateful. We were going through so many life-threatening situations that we couldn’t feel anything else.
“There would be a tremor and rocks would fall and we would be scared. But when it ended we would be grateful to be safe. Yet we also felt anxious because we wanted our families to know we were okay,” Ahrends said.
The group expressed their thankfulness to the Nepalese who helped them survive.
Eliza Arnold said they were provided with food, shelter and blankets by people who had lost everything.
“Throughout their difficulties, they were still willing to help us. These are people who lost everything,” Elize said said.
The four said they would now like to spend time with their loved ones to deal with the near-death experience they went through. But they also want to help Nepal as much as possible.
“We are okay. But there are thousands of people who have been left with nothing,” Eliza said.
She pleaded with the international community to offer aid to the Nepalese and said the Gift of the Givers founder and chairman Imtiaz Sooliman said he was humbled by the mental strength and maturity the group demonstrated.
The organisation can be reached on +99779813163338 by those wanting to locate their family members.
Independent Media