Six young footballers, all part of Nepal’s national youth academy programme, died when a landslide struck their training base in central Nepal — a tragedy that bereaved families blame on institutional negligence by the country’s football governing body.
The players, aged between 11 and 15, had been selected by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) after rigorous trials earlier this year. But on the morning of 28 September 2024, following days of heavy rain, they were swept away by a landslide in Sisneri, Makwanpur, where ANFA had moved its youth academy just months earlier.
“I told him to focus on his studies, not football,” says Kamala Regmi, mother of 13-year-old Vikal Regmi.
“But he insisted: ‘I’ll play for the national team one day, Mum.’ Now he’s gone.”
Vikal was one of six boys killed that morning. The others were: Priyans Acharya from Kathmandu, Aditya Balampakhi from Sarlahi, Simon Yonjan and Dibas Baniya from Makwanpur, and Anupam Ghalan from Hetauda.
‘Like mules, with their bags on their backs’
Videos from the morning of the disaster, reviewed by BBC Nepali, show dozens of boys running through the rain, carrying heavy bags as they were hurried to what was meant to be a safer location. Local police had already issued warnings the previous day after the nearby Kulekhani dam opened its floodgates. But parents say the academy did not evacuate the boys in time.
One relative described the boys as being sent out “like mules, with their bags on their backs” through a dangerous path where they were buried.
Bibas Baniya, the brother of 13-year-old victim Dibas, was among the first to reach the site. “We dug through the mud ourselves. No one from ANFA was there. No one in charge. Just villagers trying to save our boys,” he told the BBC.
Why were they sent to Sisneri?
ANFA moved its U-13 and U-15 academy to Sisneri, a flood-prone village about an hour’s drive from Kathmandu, earlier this year under a deal with a local school chaired by a former politician, Subash Chandra Thakuri.
Critics say the new site was chosen hastily and without proper assessment of the risks. The district administration and Kulekhani hydropower station had warned of rising water levels and possible floods on 27 September.
Even as warnings were being broadcast, Thakuri posted dismissive remarks on Facebook, accusing the authorities of creating “unnecessary panic.”
When asked by the BBC why players were not evacuated earlier or through a safer route, Thakuri said: “We sent them on two paths. The six boys who died were simply unlucky.”
Families demand justice
For months, the bereaved families have been asking for an independent investigation and accountability from ANFA. Many say ANFA officials visited only briefly, offering condolence cheques — which some parents refused.
“My son’s last words to me were: ‘Don’t worry, the uncles here will take care of me,’” recalls Kamala Regmi. “But when the landslide came, there were no uncles. Just mud.”
Guardian Bharat Bahadur Thapa, who took care of orphaned player Aditya Balampakhi, has filed a petition in Nepal’s Supreme Court calling for an inquiry. “We went to the Prime Minister’s Office. We went to the Home Minister. No one cared,” he says. “We want justice — nothing more, nothing less.”
ANFA declines comment
ANFA spokesperson Suresh Shah declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings, saying: “The matter is sub judice. We cannot speak at this time.”
But in private, ANFA officials have blamed the hydropower station for releasing water abruptly, while locals and families say the academy’s poor planning and lack of preparedness were equally at fault.
As Nepal mourns these young lives, the tragedy raises uncomfortable questions about how one of the country’s most popular sports is being run — and whether players’ dreams are being sacrificed to negligence.
“Football was their passion,” says one father. “But our boys deserved better.”