Landslide kills 6 children residing in Sisneri-based ANFA Academy

By Nayak Paudel/Rammani Dahal,Kathmandu/Makwanpur, Sept. 29: Six children undergoing training at the All Nepal Football Association’s (ANFA) Batsaladevi Football Academy in Sisneri, Makwanpur, died in a landslide on Saturday. Buried in the landslide on Saturday morning, their bodies were found in the evening.

Talking to The Rising Nepal over a phone call, Makwanpur’s Chief District Officer Tirtha Raj Chiluwal confirmed the deaths of the six children.

The six deceased children have been identified as Diwas Baniya, Priyans Acharya, Saimon Yonjan, Anupam Ghalan, Bikal Regmi and Adipya Balampaki. According to CDO Chiluwal, the dead bodies were airlifted to Kathmandu on the helicopter that came to repatriate other stuck children in the football academy.

ANFA spokesperson Suresh Shah informed that 40 children resided at the ANFA Football Academy hostel in Batsaladevi Secondary School in Ward No. 3 of Indrasarovar Rural Municipality of Makwanpur. “All the children belonged to the U-13 category and were selected by the ANFA in May,” said Shah.

According to APF’s Disaster Management Centre near the Kulekhani region, they had been informed of the incident on Saturday morning and a police team had reached the site at around afternoon. The site is around 2-km west of Sisneri Police Station.

“There have been communication issues in the region due to which we could not contact local officers properly. We also could not send backups as the routes to the area were blocked due to landslides,” said Inspector Lalita Dhakal, in-charge of the Area Police Office, Bhimphedi, Makwanpur.

34 children rescued

As soon as the news of children buried and stuck in a landslide reached the ANFA, the national governing body of football lobbied with the National Sports Council and Ministry of Youth and Sports to call the attention of the security and disaster-rescue forces to aid in rescuing the missing children. The family members of several missing and affected children had reached the ANFA Building in Satdobato, Lalitpur, on Saturday, to demand their children get rescued safely.

A helicopter was sent towards Sisneri to repatriate the children to Kathmandu. At around 5 pm on Saturday, Batsaladevi Anfa Football Academy-BAFA’s Facebook page posted about the difficulties due to the lack of mobile networks and called locals nearby to gather as a helicopter was arriving for a rescue.

“The helicopter reached and rescued the remaining children. It is on the way,” said Suresh Shah, ANFA’s spokesperson, at around 6:20 pm.

According to CDO Chiluwal, the helicopter returned to Kathmandu with the bodies of six children and 30 other children who were at the Academy.

A preventable incident?

“The six children went missing in a landslide while trying to relocate the Academy children to a safe place at 6:30 am on Saturday amidst incessant rain,” the ANFA wrote in a statement Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, local authorities, especially police, had a little different say on the matter. 

According to Inspector Khadka, the children had escaped separately and were ahead following which they got buried in a landslide.

“The Academy is near the river but at a height that makes it safe despite Kulekhani Dam’s gates being opened. However, the six children ran away and got affected by a landslide,” Inspector Dhakal told The Rising Nepal.

Likewise, CDO Chiluwal also informed that all the children would have been safe if they had stayed in the hostel building.

“As per the reports I received, the six children used a shorter route to escape to a safer place while others used a longer route,” said CDO Chiluwal, adding, “Further legal procedures are underway. The safe children and the dead bodies will be handed over to their respective families through government officials from Kathmandu.”