Top Stories»
A quirk of fate lands Nepali lad in Titanic mission
KATHMANDU, SEP 09 -
If a British national’s dream project comes true, the Titanic will soon rise again. Sounds like a fantasy to many who read and watched many fictional and non-fictional stories weaved around the tragic sinking of the glorious Titanic some 98 years ago, but for a young Nepali lad from Kavre, this will no longer be a fantasy.
Rajesh Khadka, 19, is not a ship engineer, but he has been selected as one of the 14 key members of the dream Titanic resurrection project of Douglas John Faulkner-Woolley, who aims to “raise” the Titanic.
The Titanic struck an iceberg and foundered on its maiden voyage in international waters on April 15, 1912, killing thousands of people.
The project sounds interesting, but how Khadka managed to get a place in the project is even more interesting.
Khadka says it all started when he was chatting on the Internet. About a year ago, Khadka came across a man by the name of “Douglas” online and quickly sent a “hi, how are you?” message. “Am fine and you?. Let’s be frens,” came a quick reply from the other end. The chat continued and they introduced each other. Over time, they came to know each other.
Khadka never thought in his wildest dreams that such sort of a chat would give him an opportunity as huge as this. But, it actually did.
Impressed with Khadka’s hobbies and his way of talking, Douglas, the brain behind the Titanic salvaging project offered him a role. “That was the happiest moment in my life,” Khadka says.
Subsequently he became a part of the project that would “raise” the titanic and the QE 1 (Queen Elizabeth). Khadka, an A-Level student at Chelsea Int’l College, will soon be flying to the UK to begin his work and get acquainted with the project. Khadka came to know about the Titanic through books and after watching a popular movie, ‘Titanic.’
“I will be assisting Douglas,” a proud Khadka said, though he added that he has never met Douglas in person. Douglas told the Post that the total cost of the project, including the salvaging project, lifting of the QE1 (Seawise University) on Hong Kong Harbour as a pilot project and the lifting of the Titanic, will be 18 million pounds.
“I hope to complete the project in the next two or three years,” said Douglas, adding that they will train Khadka in diving and that he will actually work as his private assistant.
Douglas said his grandfather told him the story of the Titanic. “It was my grandfather who inspired me to take up this project,” said the 74-year old Douglas. In 1972, the QE1 (Seawise University) sunk on Hong Kong Harbour after fire engulfed it and Douglas decided to use this wreck as a pilot project for lifting the Titanic.
Posted on: 2010-09-10 08:40
Headlines
Advertisements
