Swiss woman, 70, survives Nepal flood by climbing staircase

A 70-year-old Swiss woman, Natalia Rjumin-Girardet, narrowly survived a deadly flash flood in Nepal on August 26, crediting a concrete staircase for saving her life. She was traveling with eight pilgrims to Mount Kailash when a wave of water and mud engulfed their bus. The group had only one or two minutes to escape the vehicle before it was swept away. They ran up the stairs to higher ground and watched houses, cars, and buses being carried off by the wave. The village where they had stayed the night was destroyed, but all group members survived. The flood, caused by a glacial collapse on the Nepal-China border, has killed over 1,100 people with nearly 4,500 missing. Rjumin-Girardet, a yoga teacher, calls her survival a "miracle" and hopes the experience will inspire more compassion in the world.