Who exactly is Arnold Dix, the specialist in command of the rescue operation after the tunnel collapse in Uttarkashi?
3 min readOn Monday, Arnold Dix, a world-renowned specialist on tunnel collapses, joined rescue workers in inspecting the Silkyara tunnel site. At the site in Silkyara, Uttarkashi, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association Arnold Dix is lending a hand with the rescue efforts and is hopeful about the future.
Professor Dix is confident in the rescue effort after analyzing the tunnel and the area above it where the vertical drilling operation would commence.
“Back at the office, we’ll compare our observations above the tunnel with our knowledge of what’s happening below. This information is invaluable to rescue those 41 people without allowing anybody to be hurt in the process. “But to do that, we need to be extremely cautious,” he said.
Arnold Dix is one member of a large team of individuals using a four-pronged approach to discovering the missing. One potential option is to begin drilling vertically from above the tunnel face. “I need to see what’s going on underneath, and I need to go look down at the bottom. It’s like any complex job. You need to check all around it and discuss it, but at the moment, it’s looking very positive,” said the instructor.
I can already tell that something is about to take place. Time is of the essence, but the rescue crew is so worried about ensuring that no one is harmed that they are taking their time making the best judgments they can with the information they have.
Also Read : Elon Musk on Satya Nadella’s Big Announcement: “Now They Will Have to…”
Arnold Dix joined the other believers in praying at the makeshift temple they had erected at the tunnel’s entrance. From construction risk to more technical difficulties relating to actual safety performance from an operational safety viewpoint, Dix was an expert in subsurface and transportation infrastructure. As the top expert on tunneling below the surface, he advises reducing the risks of operating in such a hazardous environment.
The Silkyara tunnel tragedy site’s rescue efforts have already lasted nine days. The governments of Uttrakhand and India are in regular communication. They are doing all they can to keep the workers’ morale up in the already-built 2-kilometer portion of the tunnel.
Micro tunneling operations will start at the Barkot end, and the Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation (THDC) has already sent in the necessary heavy equipment to get them started. Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) will do the vertical drilling required to rescue the trapped personnel.
As a consequence, resources from the states of Gujarat and Odisha have been rushed to the site. ONGC has also started setting up at the Barkot end in preparation for vertical drilling. BRO has begun the approach road for the ONGC and SJVNL mobilization machinery.
The rescue efforts for the 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi since last week were discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami over the phone.
The group then decided to attack the problem from many angles at once. Five groups carried out the committee’s recommended lines of action.