A headteacher in Nepal evacuated about 900 pupils from Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot roughly 10 minutes before floodwaters reached the area, after receiving four warning calls at 09:10 local time (03:25 GMT).

Rajendra Dawadi said he moved the students to higher ground and ordered buses carrying pupils to turn back as the disaster swept through parts of Nepal. The floods have claimed at least 794 lives and left about 2,426 people missing.

The school building was buried under mud and debris, and a hostel located about 100 meters from the river was engulfed as the waters arrived.

Pupil Yunisha Amatya, 16, said she and her friends escaped by seconds after teachers instructed students to head home. She recalled climbing uphill via a narrow ladder behind the school as the local bazaar was swept away, and noted that many students and teachers were stranded for two nights before rescue teams reached them.

Dawadi and Yunisha, who both live across the river from the school, were later airlifted back to their home village.