Ramesh GC is one of two survivors of the helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan. Four Nepalis died in the crash.
It had only been four days since we came to Afghanistan for employment. On Sunday morning, an MI-8 carrying six of us Nepalis took off from Kandahar airport to Stimbudek base, where we were due to work at a construction site. We sat at the rear end, our seatbelts fastened. A few minutes after the take off, we felt the wheel hit ground and heard the back door-lever open slightly. Smoke engulfed the cabin and blinded us.

Abishek Adhikari, a fellow Nepali passenger sitting next to me, suggested that we jump off the chopper. We unfastened our belts and leaped through the back door and ran for our lives. Fortunately, we only suffered minor injuries on our knees and hands.

While a hotel worker in Baghdad, Iraq, I had never experienced anything as horrifying as this. Even more traumatic for me is the fact that my fellow Nepalis didn't survive. I am very fortunate to have survived the fatal accident.