Kunda Dixit

It was an uncharacteristically sunny day for the monsoon, with blindingly clear skies. Namgye Chumbi was weeding his potato garden in Phakding by the Dudh Kosi on the morning of 4 August 1985.

There weren't too many trekkers on the trail. The Dudh Kosi was tumbling noisily over boulders nearby. Around two in the afternoon, the river went quiet. Namgye sensed danger.

"I noticed that the white water had turned muddy brown, and in the distance I heard a thundering sound like an approaching helicopter," recalls the 50-year-old farmer. "I looked upstream and saw this huge wall of dark brown water approaching very fast."