On November 28, the country breathed a collective sigh of relief when the 41 workers, trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand, were rescued. One of the people who played a key role in the rescue operation Arnold Dix, an Australian tunnelling expert who is president of the Geneva-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. This is an international non-governmental organisation with 78 member nations.
The tunnelling expert joined the rescue operations on November 20, on the request of the Indian government to rescue the 41 workers in an operation that lasted for almost 400 hours.
Dix was all praises for the teamwork displayed by all parties concerned including the government authorities, the people, and the Indian engineers. He said, “… the army, their engineers, the best I’ve ever worked with… it was just a joy to be a part of this successful mission,” he told the press moments after the successful rescue.
Hundreds of personnel from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Madras Sappers regiment of the Indian Army were involved in the rescue operations.
Arnold Dix has been a tunnelling expert for nearly three decades.
Also Read: “Survival Instinct The Biggest Motivator” — Medical Experts on Trapped Workers in Uttarakhand
According to his profile on LinkedIn, he volunteered at the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) from 2016 to 2019, where he helped develop responses to underground incidents such as mining accidents. QRCS is a charitable and humanitarian support group which aids victims of disasters across the globe.
