A group of schoolchildren in one of the areas worst affected by Wednesday’s devastating floods in Nepal managed to survive because they had left their classroom for a lunch break.Pupils attending other classes at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School in Galchhi, Dhading district, also escaped after teachers instructed them to evacuate swiftly, just moments before the floodwaters came crashing into the building."The teachers said, ‘There is a flood and you should leave bags and tiffins,’" said Lakshmi Shrestha, the mother of a student attending the school. "That’s how they managed to survive."Shrestha was among the mothers and pupils who returned to their school on Sunday to search for personal belongings and see what could be salvaged.The majority of the children at the school appeared to have survived the deluge, according to the families.Mud covers a classroom at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School, damaged in flash flooding in Galchhi, Dhading district of Nepal, (AP)Thick brown and gray mud coated the surfaces of school benches, walls and notebooks while the school’s courtyard was filled with sediment. Lines on the walls showed how high the water rapidly rose. A pile of small mud-caked backpacks, some with colorful key chains, were on the benches and floors, waiting to be claimed.Kopila Mizar, the mother of a student, was unable to find her son’s backpack, but remained positive.“My son is alive, that is my biggest happiness,” she said.At least 69 schools in Nepal’s flood-devastated districts have been destroyed or damaged, putting education at risk for nearly 19,000 children, according to the nonprofit Save the Children. Those numbers are likely to rise as rescue teams reach more areas, they said.A student from the school searches for her school bag from a pile extracted from the mud brought in by the recent flash floods (AP)Meanwhile, The Times reported how as many as 1,600 pupils due to attend the Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal, were saved thanks to the quick-thinking of staff.The newspaper reported school principal, Rajendra Dadabi, was called by a friend in nearby Betrawati, five miles upstream, alerting him to the imminent threat.He also remembered to call all of the school buses, each with 80 children, and redirect them away from the school.The government ordered schools and universities to shut down for three days following torrential rains that triggered severe flash floods and landslides across parts of the country. University exams were also paused.With communities still receiving constant flood warnings advising them to move to higher, safer areas, it’s unclear when classes will be able to resume.Nepal’s disaster agency said Sunday the death toll had climbed to 788 with 2,502 missing, while Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing on the Chinese side of the border.The missing include hundreds of people from over a dozen countries who were in the region to work, visit the mountains or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak. On Sunday, Chinese state media said 261 foreigners were missing in Tibet, including over a hundred Nepalis and others from around the world.