Nepal flood rescue: ‘Tunnel Man’ digs for hope

By Indira Guerrero

New Delhi/Kathmandu, Sep 7 (EFE).- Thirteen days after devastating floods buried Nepal’s north under mud, rocks and debris, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix, known as “Tunnel Man,” is digging for signs of life underground, insisting there is a chance to defy the odds.

“This is completely different to any operation that I am aware of ever in the history of the world,” Dix told EFE.

“I know that’s a huge claim, but we’ve never tried to launch a rescue in a tunnel that hasn’t collapsed but is filled with mud and rock and debris.”

Unlike conventional tunnel disasters, he said, the structures themselves remain largely intact.

“So actually everything is different. The tunnels are in good condition, but they’re filled with rock and mud and water.”

The Aug. 26 floods also destroyed roads leading to several hydroelectric power plants, which severely complicated rescue efforts.

“We don’t have access because the roads have blown up….So it’s like layer upon layer of difficulty,” Dix said.

Searching for pockets of survival

During the first week of the operation, Dix focused on identifying underground chambers capable of sustaining life.

“There are pockets underground in which people would have enough air, they would have water, they might even have some food, not much, but a little food. And so technically they could survive.”

His assessment appeared to be validated on Friday, when two workers from the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant were rescued alive after spending nine days trapped underground.

“That was proof that what we were hoping was correct, that there would be pockets where people could be alive,” he said.

Dix is now working at another hydropower facility near the Chinese border, where rescuers still do not know whether anyone has survived at the power plant that “is gone.”

“There’s nothing at the surface, but we know that underground, there’s a big space where the turbines and things are that could, could still sustain life.”

Digging through the impossible

The rescue strategy is surprisingly simple in principle, though extraordinarily difficult in practice.

“We don’t have to do anything very exotic. What we have to do is dig.”

Teams are advancing through a narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person, excavated alongside the tunnel’s original roof in the hope of reaching air-filled voids beyond the mud and debris.

Dix believes the greatest obstacle is not engineering, but pessimism.

“Human beings have an amazing ability to survive. And we know that people who are trapped, if they’re alive, they will want to live. And that’s the most important thing.”

“I’m in the miracle business”

The veteran rescuer often recalls the 2023 Silkyara operation in India, when 41 workers were brought out alive after 17 days underground.

“I’m in the business of miracles,” he said. “History has shown that from time to time, when people are intent on achieving what seems to be impossible, it’s no longer impossible.”

For Dix, abandoning the search would guarantee failure.

“If you give up, if you lose your humanity, if you forget about how human beings should treat one another, if you rely upon what ChatGPT tells you is the odds, then you stop and then ChatGPT is correct.”

He said persisting makes it possible to defy the odds. “We’ve done it before and we’re planning to do it again.”

Letting survivors heal

Dix deliberately chose not to speak to the two men rescued from Trishuli 3A, saying they deserved privacy after enduring unimaginable trauma.

“The last thing they need to do is to try and talk with an old bearded stranger asking them questions. I will not ask them anything. I’ll just give them their life back.” EFE

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