- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Rescue teams, including Dix, worked relentlessly after 41 workers got trapped behind the Silkyara tunnel on November 12, to bring them out safely.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AUSTRALIAN high commissioner to India Philip Green on Monday (4) felicitated international tunnelling expert professor Arnold Dix at the high commission in New Delhi for his role in the recent rescue operation in a collapsed under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
He also called the expert a hero of the two countries’ bilateral relationship. India and Australia share close ties and cooperate in various fields, including economic, geostrategic, political and people-to-people.
The operation continued for 17 days after 41 workers got trapped behind the Silkyara tunnel on November 12. Rescue teams, alongside Dix and other international experts, worked relentlessly to ensure that the workers were safe and eventually brought them out on November 28. The Australian expert had promised the trapped workers’ families that they would return home safely which they did.
Read: Prof Arnold Dix’s exclusive interview to India Weekly
The challenge was tough as modern machinery failed to reach the trapped men and the rescue teams had to resort to manual digging to bring them out.
Team Australia gave three hearty cheers today for Prof #ArnoldDix as we honoured him at Australia House. A hero of the #UttarakhandTunnelRescue and a hero of our bilateral relationship. His modesty and love for humankind shone through as we saluted his effort today. @Arnolddix pic.twitter.com/gVe2rjXIb6
— Philip Green OAM (@AusHCIndia) December 4, 2023
Praising the Australian’s involvement in the successful rescue mission, Green told Asian News International, “We are enormously proud of him. He has played an important role in a vital rescue. It is a matter of joy for all of us that all 41 men are safe. It is a matter of great happiness that he was part of the effort to rescue them.”
Read: How global media reacted to India’s tunnel rescue: ‘Human labour triumphed over machinery’
He said on X, “Team Australia gave three hearty cheers today for Prof #ArnoldDix as we honoured him at Australia House. A hero of the #UttarakhandTunnelRescue and a hero of our bilateral relationship. His modesty and love for humankind shone through as we saluted his effort today.” He tagged Dix in his post.
Dix, who gave technical inputs besides handling impatient reporters and even offered prayers at a temporary temple near the tunnel for the workers’ well-being, could not explain the exact reason for the collapse of the tunnel.
“I haven’t done the forensic investigation of what caused it. From an engineering point of view, the support cast that we use failed, and I don’t know why exactly it failed. I am confident that once we understand that, we can resolve it,” Dix, who leads the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association in Geneva said.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese also lauded Dix for his role besides the Indian authorities for the successful rescue operation.
A wonderful achievement by Indian authorities. Proud that Australian Professor Arnold Dix played a role on the ground. ???? https://t.co/RI1oSnaUkK
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 28, 2023
Reposting a tweet from Green praising Dix on November 28 after the trapped workers were freed, Albanese said, “A wonderful achievement by Indian authorities. Proud that Australian Professor Arnold Dix played a role on the ground.”
