Kathmandu, Sept 7: International tunnel rescue expert Professor Arnold Dix, who gained global recognition for leading the successful rescue of 41 workers trapped inside India’s Silkyara tunnel, has described Nepal’s ongoing rescue operations in flood-affected tunnels as the toughest test of his life.
The Australian geologist and engineer, who is providing technical advice and leading rescue efforts in the field in Nepal, shared his experience and message on social media early Monday.
“I have never experienced anything like this before,” Dix wrote.
He said Nepal presented a situation unlike any he had encountered in the past, with several potential rescue operations unfolding simultaneously at different locations.
“We are facing a situation in Nepal that I have never experienced before. This is not a single rescue. Multiple potential rescues are progressing at the same time in different locations, each involving its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved,” he said.
A test of duty and ‘dharma’
Recalling the 2023 rescue of 41 workers who spent 17 days trapped inside India’s Silkyara tunnel, Dix described Nepal’s disaster as an even greater responsibility.
“At Silkyara, 41 people were underground, and we had what seemed like an almost impossible responsibility to bring them home alive. We passed that test together,” he wrote. “But passing one great test does not mean the tests are over. Perhaps it means we have been given responsibility for an even greater one.”
Dix linked the Western concept of duty with the Eastern idea of dharma, saying both emphasize doing what is right even when success is uncertain.
“The test is not simply whether we succeed or fail. The real question is whether, as the path becomes harder, our responsibilities increase and the outcome remains unknown, we continue to do the right thing,” he wrote.
He said the Silkyara rescue taught him the difference between a low probability of success and something being truly impossible.
“Nepal is teaching me something even greater: when many lives depend on us at the same time, we must turn hope into discipline, compassion into action, and duty into something that does not depend solely on certainty of success.”
Dix, a senior expert with the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, initially provided technical advice remotely from Australia to the Nepal Electricity Authority after the Rasuwa flood. His advice and coordination helped make possible the rescue of two technicians alive from the flooded Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel 10 days after the disaster.
He subsequently travelled to Nepal and joined the rescue operation in person. He has since been directing inspections and search efforts at several tunnels, including those associated with the Chilime Hydropower Project, based on the possibility that people trapped inside mud and flood debris could survive in pockets of breathable air.
Reaffirming his commitment to continue the search until the end, Dix wrote: “East or West, the principle is the same: we are judged not only by how many lives we save, but also by the lives we refuse to abandon.”
People’s News Monitoring Service
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