Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Survivors describe China-Nepal flash flood as 570 dead, 1900 missing

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Survivors describe China-Nepal flash flood as 570 dead, 1900 missing · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's more than uh stressing out it's it's devastating right
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: so because first thing i i'm not sure what my
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: family is going through right there and uh i'm i
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: have lost contact or we have lost contact for last
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: 48 hours i haven't heard anything i haven't heard anything
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  Speaker 1: from the authorities uh it's it's emotionally uh taking us
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  Speaker 1: a toll on i don't know i don't know so
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  Speaker 1: it's 48 hours What are they? Where are they? Of course,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you will see that the family is supporting me, but
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  Speaker 1: everybody is taking turns and shedding their tears, wiping it
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  Speaker 1: off and getting back to work.
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  Speaker 2: We have spoken with the only two known Americans who
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  Speaker 2: survived from that border crossing. They were sitting on one
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  Speaker 2: of the buses. Their names are Patabi and Anjana. They're
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  Speaker 2: from Northern California, from the Bay Area. They said they
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  Speaker 2: were sitting on the bus, just chatting with some other
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  Speaker 2: tourists from Italy, and all of a sudden they looked
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  Speaker 2: outside the bus and saw people running. and they knew
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  Speaker 2: that something was wrong. Then they looked up the hill
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  Speaker 2: and they saw a massive wall, a black cloud as
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  Speaker 2: they described it. They didn't know if it was water,
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  Speaker 2: they didn't know if it was smoke, but they knew
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  Speaker 2: that it was moving very quickly down the hill towards
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  Speaker 2: their bus and the other buses that were all parked
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  Speaker 2: in a row. They had had breakfast at the hotel
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  Speaker 2: with members of tour groups that were inside that building
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  Speaker 2: getting their visas processed to cross from Nepal into China,
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  Speaker 2: into the Tibet region of China. those people have disappeared,
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  Speaker 2: presumed to be gone. Even people on their own bus,
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  Speaker 2: when they saw this black wall approaching of water, they
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  Speaker 2: ran to the right, and other passengers ran to the left,
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  Speaker 2: and they'd never seen them since. But they ran up
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  Speaker 2: a hill, and they were able, just sparing a matter
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  Speaker 2: of seconds, to be able to get to a vantage
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  Speaker 2: point where they could then turn around and watch the
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  Speaker 2: horror that was unfolding beneath. Here's a portion of that
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  Speaker 2: interview that we just did. Please take a look.
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  Speaker 3: So the way it came, it came just like a tsunami.
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  Speaker 3: It just came going all the way up. And just
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  Speaker 3: like a tsunami, how it sweeps going like a row,
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  Speaker 3: it just took the buses, the vans, houses, people, everything.
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  Speaker 3: We saw people just getting sucked in the water. It
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  Speaker 3: was so traumatizing to see that. People are screaming, but
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  Speaker 3: of course water doesn't hear anything. It just kind of
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  Speaker 3: sucked them in. I don't know if they were thrown
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  Speaker 3: away somewhere in the shore, but then this happened. It
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  Speaker 3: was just a span of 30 minutes. In 30 minutes,
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  Speaker 3: everything was swept and gone. There was no water after that.
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  Speaker 2: They don't know. exactly how they did it, but they crawled, climbed,
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  Speaker 2: and ran their way up the hill with a small
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  Speaker 2: group and a local tour operator who they say really
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  Speaker 2: saved their lives because he told them where to go
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  Speaker 2: higher and higher up the hill. They didn't have a
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  Speaker 2: cell signal, so they had no idea what was happening
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  Speaker 2: until at one point they did briefly have a cell signal.
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  Speaker 2: And at this point, they still didn't know if the
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  Speaker 2: flood was over, if there was going to be another event.
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  Speaker 2: But what they did when they had a brief cell
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  Speaker 2: signal is they picked up the phone and they called
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  Speaker 2: their daughter. And in that 60-second phone call, while they
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  Speaker 2: had a cell phone signal, they gave their daughter all
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  Speaker 2: of their passwords for their accounts because they thought that
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  Speaker 2: they might not survive. And they wanted her to have
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  Speaker 2: all the information that she needed so that she could
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  Speaker 2: do what needed.
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  Speaker 4: To be done.
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  Speaker 2: And they told her they love her and to please
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  Speaker 2: take care of her younger son, her brother, who's in
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  Speaker 2: the Boy Scouts. And then the call got cut off.
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  Speaker 2: But they've now survived, and we have much more of
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  Speaker 2: this interview with them. We had a long conversation with them,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll be sharing that with you throughout the day here.
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  Speaker 2: But it was just extraordinary and harrowing to hear the
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  Speaker 2: details of how they survived.
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  Speaker 4: The latest honestly hasn't changed too much in the past
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  Speaker 4: two days. We are still reaching out to both officials
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  Speaker 4: at the Beijing embassy, Kathmandu embassy, and speaking to people
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  Speaker 4: on the ground there to see what the efforts are
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  Speaker 4: looking like to rescue and save our parents, hopefully, but
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  Speaker 4: haven't heard too much concrete information in the past day.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, the connectivity is very tough, right? We're hearing that
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  Speaker 5: from our reporter on the ground. Shreya, throughout this trip,
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  Speaker 5: your parents have been in constant contact with both of you.
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  Speaker 5: They've been telling you where they were, letting you know
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  Speaker 5: they were okay. But again, that connectivity is an issue.
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  Speaker 5: Tell us about when you last spoke to them and
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  Speaker 5: what they told you.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, I was fortunate enough to speak with them last
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  Speaker 6: a few hours before they reached the border crossing. So
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  Speaker 6: that was 7.30 p.m. August 25th, my time, which would
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  Speaker 6: have been 7.30 a.m. for them August 26th. They were
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  Speaker 6: in Saga, China. They had just finished the pilgrimage. They
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  Speaker 6: were feeling really proud of themselves for having completed it.
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  Speaker 6: They had just met the religious spiritual leader who leads
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  Speaker 6: the trek and felt very blessed at getting to meet
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  Speaker 6: him in person and they were ready to come home
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  Speaker 6: they hung up with me after saying that hey our
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  Speaker 6: tour group is going to head out to the border
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  Speaker 6: crossing given that it was night time I went to
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  Speaker 6: sleep shortly after and thought nothing of it.
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  Speaker 5: And Ashna, Chinese authorities, they're now warning about the risk.
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  Speaker 5: They're concerned about the possibility of this dam breaking that
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  Speaker 5: could lead to more flooding in that port area, the
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  Speaker 5: same area where your parents were last seen. Talk to
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  Speaker 5: us about your concerns about that and what you're hearing
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  Speaker 5: from officials about that.
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  Speaker 4: It's definitely a terrifying situation. I think We know that
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  Speaker 4: the people on the ground are doing their best efforts,
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  Speaker 4: and we hope that they stay safe as they continue
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  Speaker 4: to do so. And for all of us waiting for
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  Speaker 4: family members' occurrences and whereabouts, we hope that they have
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: been found and are at a hospital and are safe
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: as the weather continues to change in the region.
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  Speaker 5: Shreya, it is amazing to hear you talk about them
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  Speaker 5: being so proud of finishing what was quite a feat.
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  Speaker 5: for them, this pilgrimage. It's incredibly meaningful to them, as
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  Speaker 5: you said. They'd waited so long to make this pilgrimage
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  Speaker 5: as they're celebrating your dad's 60th. We have a picture
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  Speaker 5: of him at Lake Manasarovar, which is at the base
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  Speaker 5: of Mount Kailash. You can see him here. He's actually meditating.
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  Speaker 5: Tell us a little bit about, just more about this
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  Speaker 5: experience and what it meant for them to be seeking
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  Speaker 5: this out together?
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  Speaker 6: I mean, this was definitely a testament of my mom
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  Speaker 6: supporting my dad and all his hopes and dreams. He
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: wanted to do this trip. before or you know right
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  Speaker 6: when he turned 60 he didn't know how his body
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  Speaker 6: would change as he grew older and it's a pretty
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  Speaker 6: tough track so they want he wanted to get get
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  Speaker 6: it done it was his bucket list dream and she
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  Speaker 6: was a little nervous about it she didn't know if
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  Speaker 6: she could do it but she really really wanted to
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  Speaker 6: support him and make sure that he got the best
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  Speaker 6: 60th birthday possible And that was her filming that video.
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  Speaker 6: She was she could see how happy he was just
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  Speaker 6: being there at the lake.
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  Speaker 7: Meanwhile, Chinese state media report that China has suspended flood
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  Speaker 7: rescue efforts near the border with Nepal because of those
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  Speaker 7: same fears. Here is how a doctor in the flood
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  Speaker 7: zone described some of the challenges that emergency teams are
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  Speaker 7: now facing.
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  Speaker 8: We don't know what is inside there. We need to
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  Speaker 8: wait for the rescue and evacuation part. And I cannot
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  Speaker 8: even imagine what the situation had been here yesterday and
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  Speaker 8: the aftermath as you can see here. So definitely there
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  Speaker 8: are many people missing and some of them might be
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  Speaker 8: buried inside there.
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  Speaker 6: We don't know.
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  Speaker 8: I cannot explain.