When flash floods and landslides struck Nepal’s northern border with Tibet, Priya Adhikari became a familiar sight in the skies. As Nepal’s first woman helicopter captain, she flew close to 100 rescue sorties in less than a week, coordinating with other pilots as they evacuated survivors from the flood-hit village of Timure in Rasuwa district.
Adhikari, 40, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the scale of the disaster was unlike anything she had seen before. “Most of us are so exhausted because of all the flights we’ve been doing. We’ve been trained for this,” she said.
The floods and mudslides have killed over 1,000 people in Nepal and Tibet, and thousands remain missing, including foreign travelers cut off by the destruction. Around 20 helicopters were flying continuously over Timure, where scores of people were still unaccounted for. Adhikari described the constant radio coordination required as five or six helicopters landed at the same spot to pick up survivors.
The risks began even before boarding survivors. In some areas, thick mud prevented helicopters from landing safely, forcing pilots to remain on power throughout the rescue. “Everything is gone. Five hydropower projects are gone, lives are gone,” Adhikari said.
Despite the devastation, Adhikari found reason to smile in the survivors she helped rescue. “Every time I go and land I see people around and waving at them,” she said. “I say, you survived.”
Adhikari’s path to the cockpit was unconventional. She initially studied environmental science and worked as cabin crew before a helicopter joyride changed her career. She trained in the Philippines and became Nepal’s first full-time female helicopter pilot in 2017. Her rescue missions have taken her to altitudes of up to about 6,200 meters.
More than 200 survivors were evacuated from the Timure area during the first two days, with helicopters including Army Augusta models involved. Adhikari said the flash floods were even bigger than Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people.
By September 1, she had completed close to 100 flights, not only ferrying survivors to safety but also retrieving bodies from remote areas unreachable by road. Her determination remained steady. “We’ve been trained for this,” she repeated, a phrase that captured the professionalism and resolve of a pilot at the center of one of Nepal’s worst natural disasters.