Asha Gurung recounts miraculous escape

Twenty-seven year old Nepali mother Asha Gurung and her 11-year-old son Nipan, who originally hail from Pokhara, miraculously escaped when the single engine plane crashed on the roof of their rented house. But three members of the landlord’s family were killed in the incident. Asha’s family has been living in Parvatia Colony for the last three months which is about 15 km from the Indian capital.

We are happy that we escaped, but it is sad that three members of our owner’s family died,” Asha said. “I thought we were all going do die. I do not know how we could escape,” Asha said.

Asha, her son and her landlord Shobhram Saharawat’s wife, daughter, son and daughter-in-law were on the roof of the house when the tragedy struck.

Shobhram was in his room downstairs and Asha’s husband Nishant had gone out for a stroll.

“All of a sudden we saw the plane hovering above our roof and it was making unusual noise. All of us realised that the plane was going to fall on our roof and we rushed towards the staircase. By the time we reached the ground floor, the plane had already hit the roof,” Asha said.

The survivors had difficulty climbing down the staircase as large amount of gasoline spilled out of the plane, making the staircase slippery. 

Asha who is expecting a baby in eight weeks fell down the staircase but escaped with minor injury.

According to her, the gate of the house was hit by plane so hard that they could not open the gate and were trapped inside. The neighbours rushed to their help and opened the gate. It was only then Asha and others could come out of the house.