Johannesburg - A group of South African school pupils from Pretoria who were in Nepal when the fatal earthquake hit the country, were lucky to escape unscathed.
“All teams have been accounted for and are safe,” St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls said on its Facebook page on Saturday.
The school’s netball, hockey and basketball teams have been in Nepal for almost a week now on a sports tour.
AP reported that at least 1 970 people have been reported dead on Sunday after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Asian country the previous day.
The quake was centered outside Kathmandu, the capital, and was the worst to hit the nation in over 80 years. It destroyed swaths of the oldest neighborhoods of Kathmandu, and was strong enough to be felt all across parts of India, Bangladesh, China’s region of Tibet and Pakistan.
Out of the 1 970, at least 721 of them died in Kathmandu alone, and the number of injured nationwide was estimated to be over 5 000.
ANA