One year on: Silkyara rescue changed me, says tunneller Arnold Dix

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) “It’s going to be ok”. Someone had to say it, recalls tunneller Arnold Dix. And he did. The message of hope was desperately needed that day last November when he reached Silkyara in Uttarakhand where 41 workers had already been trapped in a tunnel for a week.

There was little light at the end of the tunnel – metaphorically and literally. But his bold promise that the men inside the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel would be safely rescued by Christmas instilled hope in the workers, their families, and virtually every Indian during those difficult days.

The mountains had literally collapsed on them on November 12 and they were rescued on November 28, after almost 17 gruelling days. As the entire nation watched with bated breath, Dix became the face of the rescue mission.

“At Silkyara someone had to say, ‘it’s going to be ok’. Someone had to make everyone believe that we can do this because otherwise it will end how it always ends. They would have been dead,” the president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association told PTI.

“Normally, I am involved in recovering the bodies and learning the lessons of what has gone wrong. Silkyara was different, somehow I could feel it was different and we could do it,” Dix said.

One year after the miraculous feat, the Australia-based hero of the rescue operation, in India to mark the first anniversary of the mission, confessed that his assurance was more based on belief than his technical expertise.

The 60-year-old Australian was in Europe when he received a call from Indian officials informing him about how a portion of the under-construction 4.5 km Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand had collapsed, trapping 41 workers.

Without delay, Dix, widely considered the world’s leading expert on underground tunnelling, set off on a journey covering more than 6,400 km, travelling from Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, to Mumbai, Delhi and then to Dehradun where a helicopter was waiting to take him to the site high up in the Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district.

By the time he arrived on November 19, the trapped workers had already endured a week of deprivation and fear, aware that the mountain could give way anytime.

Dix inspected the tunnel and coordinated with different agencies, suggesting technical solutions to overcome challenges through the rubble. His approach was clear from the very beginning: “We should be soft, not hard; slow, not fast; and gentle.” It was a classic case of ‘man vs mountain’, the reality far more challenging than expected, he said.

The original strategy for the multi-agency-led rescue mission was to use horizontal drilling, assisted by Dix, to evacuate the workers.

However, as the operation neared its conclusion, the previously prohibited manual “rat-hole” mining method was used after augers (a device that drills holes into the ground) struggled to penetrate nearly 60 metres of rock threatening to trap the workers.

“Around day 14 or 15, as we all know, everything had broken. The auger was broken, it ripped itself out of the ground, the casing was ripped apart and the auger itself was in pieces. Things were looking pretty grim. But I still felt that we would be okay, as long as we can stay calm.

“I never mentioned any other time other than Christmas, because for me, time was an enemy. If we had rushed, we would have caused a catastrophe and probably we could have gotten hurt,” he said.

Eventually, the workers, under Dix’s watchful eye, were extracted through a passage created by welded pipes that rescuers had previously pushed through the rock.

When they emerged, safe and uninjured, Dix was on cloud nine — or on the top of Himalayas — for delivering on his promise that the workers would be home before Christmas.

What really helped Dix — who likes to call himself a “problem solver” and is also flower farmer, truck driver and welder — in those dire circumstances?

It was clearly more than “just engineering”, admitted the genial Aussie.

He said his first point of call after he landed at ground zero was to the makeshift temple built by locals near the tunnel where he paid his respects to the deity.

“I discovered that some people believe the reason for the collapse was the demolition of a temple dedicated to the local deity for the tunnel work. And the gods were unhappy… I am a bit intuitive, so when I reached the spot, I thought paying my respect at the temporary temple outside the tunnel would be the right thing to do and I did that.”

The signs of divine intervention, even for a man of science, were simply too many to ignore, he said.

It seemed more than just a coincidence, for instance, that only weeks before the collapse, he had decided to visit some of the world’s deepest mines, enduring extreme conditions in South Africa and other places, while carrying his rescue gear — something he usually never did.

“By the time I got the call to go to Silkyara, I was in a really chilled zone and it was as if I had done a refresher course. I was relaxed and I was ready, I had all the gear. I felt an overwhelming sense that we could do this.

“Of course, I am arguably the most prominent guy in the world for such rescues but this wasn’t about that. This wasn’t just engineering. There was something else going on. This rescue has changed me. I am not sure what I am anymore. When I was up there doing the rescue, I felt connected to everything,” he pointed out.

As expected, he became an overnight celebrity after the rescue, with children in India dressing up as the friendly bearded Aussie for costume competitions. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised him for his outstanding work during the rescue operation.

“No one ever talks about the engineering people. So when I was told the PM has been saying nice things about me, I was worried that maybe I have had a mental breakdown or a rock has fallen on me. I think it was lovely that those congratulations came and that just highlights that we made the seemingly impossible possible,” he said.

Simon & Schuster will publish Dix’s memoir, aptly titled “The Promise”, next year.

It will explore Dix’s inspiring journey as a man of many talents — geologist, lawyer and professor of engineering — finally culminating in the defining moment of his life when he found himself in the mountains, assuring the world that “everything is going to be fine.”

And delivering on that promise.