Singapore family stranded for eight days in Himalaya during Nepal unrest, learning to “surrender in faith” till safely home

Anna Yeow was relaxing with her friend at a café in Pokhara, Nepal when they heard very loud noises breaking out in the distance.

The 52-year-old IT professional gazed over her shoulder and saw a crowd carrying flags. They were marching steadily in her direction.

The shops around them started lowering the shutters and their café manager proceeded to do the same.

“I was not very scared but a bit kancheong (flustered). The shop owner told us that those rioters were protesting against government corruption,” Anna told Salt&Light.

Protesters making a ruckus on the streets while others look on.

What she was witnessing was a glimpse of Nepal’s worst unrest in decades, which kicked off on September 8 in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

The demonstrations, which began as a Gen Z-led movement against widespread corruption, a social media ban and a lack of jobs, escalated into the Himalayan nation’s deadliest violence in decades which killed 74 people and forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to quit.

More than 2,100 people were injured in the riots, while protesters set fire to the main office complex that houses the Prime Minister’s office, the Supreme Court and the parliament building, and also attacked malls, luxury hotels and showrooms that the demonstrators said were owned by people close to corrupt politicians.

“Nowhere is safe” 

After observing that the protesters had left the vicinity, Anna and her friend crept out of the shuttered café and hurried back to their hotel nearby. Along the way, they noticed various properties being set on fire and barricades toppling.

“From our hotel balcony, we saw people throwing rocks at some shops near our hotel. Glass was shattering everywhere,” Anna recounted to Salt&Light.

She felt somewhat safe being on the fifth floor of the hotel, until she and her friend heard a loud explosion. Their hotel shook from the impact.

“We rushed to the balcony and saw that the fifth floor of the building opposite us was on fire. There seemed to be black smoke emanating from everywhere. That’s when I realised that nowhere was safe, including where we were,” she added.

Anne saw smoke billowing out of the fifth floor of a nearby hotel.

She and her friend rushed to pack their passports and other essentials. They locked the room door, latched it, drew the curtains and turned off the lights.

The power and the Internet stopped working later that day, as the rioters had burnt the power facilities.

“I felt very hopeless, because without power or the Internet, my phone battery can only last that long before we lose contact,” said Anna.

She raced against time to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Singapore and asked to be rescued. She also informed her relatives back in Singapore.

Her husband and two sons were also in Nepal but they had gone their separate way four days earlier. They had planned to spend the next five days hiking to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), before descending and reuniting with Anna.

“I wasn’t too worried about them as they were up in the mountains. For us, MFA said they could not send the police to us, as the rioters would target them if they showed up. We were told to wait it out,” said Anna.

Fortunately, the power was restored later when the generator kicked in.

That night, she tried to sleep despite the sounds of chaos outside. She could hear the protesters screaming and beating things with sticks outside her hotel. They did not disperse even when it began raining.

A view of the protesters in the streets as seen from Anna’s hotel balcony.

“I read out Psalm 91 and prayed to God to keep us safe,” she said, adding that she had a sleepless night that night. Her family worships at Full Gospel Assembly Singapore.

Anna’s husband Sam Roberts and their two teenage boys also had a challenging day that day.

After hiking for four straight days through steep paths, uneven trails and varying weather conditions, Sam Roberts and his two children managed to reach Annapurna Base Camp at about 1pm on September 9. They were climbing with a group of church friends who were all Sunday School teachers; Sam heads the children’s ministry in the church.

Sam and his two sons reached Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) after trekking for four days.

Sam, 54, had planned this trek for his boys in a bid to give them a first-hand experience of life’s struggles through the hardship and uncertainty of the journey.

Being a suicide survivor, the psychologist also leveraged on the trek to raise funds for Samaritans of Singapore in support of their work in suicide prevention, as World Suicide Prevention Day falls on September 10.

The team from Singapore who successfully reached ABC.

Little did he realise that his family would get more than they bargained for when it came to experiencing life’s challenges.

While father and sons celebrated their successful ascent to ABC, they quickly noticed that the locals were all busy discussing about the political unrest enveloping their nation. When they were at the base camp where there was reception, Sam and his group quickly got wind of what was happening through news headlines that were streaming in.

Sam and his group had made a booking for a scenic ride in a helicopter down from ABC to Pokhara the next morning, in order to save time as they had plans to head to Mumbai, India for a wedding next.

The following morning, however, more bad news came. The military had taken over the streets and a curfew was in place. The airport was closed and their helicopter ride down the mountain was cancelled. The group was stranded in the mountains.

Frantic, Sam reached out to the High Commission of Singapore in Delhi for help.

“I reminded myself to trust God’s protection and remain calm despite the chaos around us. I was concerned about my wife who was away from us. The thought of being stranded or encountering danger was real, but I focused on being patient, praying and making careful decisions,” Sam told Salt&Light.

Annapurna Peak at night, lit up by the moonlight.

The next day, the members of the group decided to start making their way down the mountain as there was little hope of immediate help due to the government shutdown.

After five hours of trekking in the rain, covering 2,950m, Sam slipped on wet terrain. He tried to break his fall but injured his left thigh.

“It was so painful that I could not lift my leg,” he recounted.

As Sam was unable to continue with the descent, his younger son stayed behind with him while the rest pushed on. The father and son team slowly made their way back up to their accommodation.

The group hiking through various terrain in the mountains.

Meanwhile, Anna had also been left alone in her hotel room as her friend from Malaysia managed to get a ticket to fly home.

In the midst of uncertainty, Sam and his son listened to worship songs, encouraged each other with Scripture verses and prayed together before sleeping.

“We felt His presence and reassurance in the calm and courage that came over us despite the challenges,” said Sam.

Securing a helicopter permit against the odds 

The next day, they received good news. With the help from MFA and the army, they managed to secure a helicopter permit so that the helicopter could pick them up the following morning if the weather was clear.

“The government had collapsed so it was quite unusual for MFA to be able to get through to the military army to allow us helicopter passage,” said Sam.

“God had made a way for us when it seemed impossible.” At that point, it looked like the worst was over.

Anna was hopeful for a reunion with her family soon and immediately began to pack their luggage to get ready to leave Pokhara.

Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed. The helicopter rescue mission was called off due to bad weather the next day.

Anna was disappointed with the delay. She texted her prayer intercessor and shared that she felt all alone in the hotel room.

Her friend urged her to use the quiet time to talk to God, hear from Him, and to journal it down.

“With all our pre-booked flights cancelled, she reminded me that God had ‘put a halt’ on our non-stop travel for us to rest in Him. When we can no longer control our calendar, we learn to trust and lean on His timing and schedule,” Anna said.

She began journaling her reflections and conversations with God. Remembering that the group stuck in the mountains comprised of Sunday School teachers, she sent them children’s songs such as “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” to remind them that God is in control and encourage them to keep their spirits up.

During that time, the verse in Isaiah 40:31 became profoundly real to Sam as he waited and surrendered to God’s will.

He had downloaded many mobile applications to monitor the weather and he checked them every hour, so that he could remind the helicopter company to consider coming over whenever there was better visibility.

He told Salt&Light: “Despite my efforts, I could not control anything. Every hour felt like a lesson in faith, reminding me of how the Israelites had to constantly look up and wait for the pillar of cloud to lift before moving forward.”

Even after six days of being stranded up in the mountain, Sam continued to try all feasible options of getting himself and his son down. No porter or donkey was willing to carry them down due to Sam’s physical condition and the state of the weather.

Anna also sent various contacts and ideas to her husband, but stopped doing so when she realised that her overwhelmed husband did not find those tips helpful at all.

“I felt so helpless because I wasn’t able to help him. But God told me that His power is made perfect in weakness,” said Anna, who was reunited with her older son when part of the hiking group reached Pokhara successfully.

Anne reunited with her older son Caleb (far right) and the rest of the team that hiked down on September 15.

The next day, Anna and her son travelled with the rest, leaving Pokhara for Kathmandu where they would wait for the rest of their family.

It was day seven of being stuck up in the mountain and Sam found himself in a depressed state. Day after day, the helicopter gave him updates of its arrival only for the rescue to be thwarted due to inclement weather.  

“Each day was a practice in patience and prayer, trusting God’s planning rather than my own planning,” Sam reflected.

“By then, I had given up and went into a dark place.”

Surrender as a “healthy kind of giving up”

Realising he was slipping into the same depressed state as when he was suicidal in the past, Sam prayed against the darkness.

“As I prayed, the despair turned into a healthy kind of giving up where I surrendered and let God take over. I felt the presence of God,” he told Salt&Light.

The following morning, on their eighth day of being stranded in the Himalayas, Sam checked the weather app briefly and saw that there was no hope that the weather would be clear.

He had lunch with his son and they settled into what he thought would be another uneventful day.

Shortly after, he received a text message informing him that the helicopter was on its way to pick them up, and that they needed to be ready.

Sam did not react with much hope. Over the past week, he had received similar messages but each ended in disappointment as the weather turned against them. Rain and poor visibility had made every attempt impossible.

But this time, he was told the helicopter was “definitely” en route and could reach them if the skies held. Even then, he thought to himself that perhaps it would divert to the nearby Pokhara instead and might not reach them.

“It was only when I read the message that it would be here in 20 minutes and that the pilot was pressing forward that I told my son to pack our things,” said Sam.

Unbeknownst to him, his sister had called his wife that morning and she had shared about how challenging it was for the helicopter to get to them. His sister asked her Pastor to pray and the Pastor had prophesied that Sam would be down before the evening arrived.

Rain clouds were still rolling in as the helicopter broke through to them.

“For a brief moment, the clouds parted and the sky became clear. The pilots took this window of opportunity to land on a small patch of ground and we went onboard quickly. Minutes later, news came in that the heavy clouds had, once again, covered the area,” said Sam.

The helicopter making a quick landing to pick Sam and his son up.

The pilot shared with him that in his 11 years of flying, he had never left anyone stranded for more than 36 hours. Yet this time, the weather had forced them to wait for more than four days before taking such a risk.

Sam and his son were picked up at 4.40pm on September 17. Sam was sent to the hospital to get his leg checked when he landed in Kathmandu.

“For me, it was nothing short of God’s miraculous hand and an answer to the many prayers of loved ones who were interceding for us,” said Sam, who later discovered he had a muscle tear in his leg thigh.   

The family reunited at a hospital in Kathmandu.

Finally, he and his younger son were reunited with the rest of the family, and they all returned to Singapore on September 20 after making a short pitstop in Bangalore.

Sam and his son arriving home in Singapore on Sunday, September 21.

Through this ordeal, Anna learnt that God is always at work behind the scenes as He had promised “all things work together for good for those who love Him” (Romans 8:28).

“I was fortunate that the hotel I stayed in wasn’t government-linked, so I was in a safer place as the rioters targeted property associated with the authorities. I wouldn’t have known about all these details but He protected me,” she said.

For Sam, he learnt that surrender, waiting and trusting God are not passive acts, but active choices that require faith and patience.

“Waiting became a lesson in endurance and humility, teaching me to rest in God’s faithfulness rather than relying solely on my own strength,” he told Salt&Light.

“Trusting God allows His power and miracles to work in ways beyond our imagination. Patience in the wait is part of the journey of faith.”

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