'Mahapralaya, No Chance of Survival': Silkyara Rescuer Arnold Dix on Nepal's Chilime Disaster

Arnold Dix Calls Chilime Disaster 'ahapralaya'

Kathmandu: Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, known in India for his role in the successful rescue of 41 workers trapped inside Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in 2023, has described the devastating disaster at Nepal's Chilime hydropower project as an event of unprecedented scale and force.

Dix, who has joined the search and rescue operation in Nepal, described the disaster as “Mahapralaya”, a term associated with a great dissolution or overwhelming catastrophe. He said the combination of water, mud, giant rocks and debris that swept through underground infrastructure was unlike anything he had encountered during decades of work involving tunnels and natural disasters.

'No Possibility of Survival' for Those in the Direct Path

Dix said his assessment was based on available evidence and conversations with responders at the site.

According to him, people who were directly caught in the path of the initial flood had no possibility of survival, with the force of the water and debris causing instantaneous deaths in those areas.

He compared the destructive force with an explosion, while explaining that a conventional bomb has a single point of detonation. At Chilime, he said, the flood moved through the underground system, carrying enormous quantities of mud, rocks and debris into the tunnel and powerhouse.

Disaster Hit Multiple Underground Areas

Dix said the devastation was not confined to the entrance of the tunnel.

The force of the flood reportedly travelled through underground works and affected areas including plant and control rooms as well as locations where workers lived and worked.

He said the simultaneous impact across multiple sites, the destruction of access and communications, and the difficult terrain made the operation particularly complex.

Why Rescuers Continued the Search

Despite his assessment about people caught in the direct path of the first flood, Dix stressed that this did not mean the rescue operation should have been abandoned.

He said rescuers could not responsibly conclude that everyone across the extensive underground network had died without entering the tunnels, examining evidence and searching locations where survivors might have been able to take shelter.

This approach echoed the lesson Dix has previously drawn from the Silkyara tunnel rescue, where 41 workers were eventually brought out alive after being trapped underground for 17 days.

'Not Because of Negligence'

Dix also rejected suggestions that the Chilime disaster should automatically be attributed to negligence by Nepal or its engineers.

He said the hydropower project had represented an achievement of Nepali engineering before the disaster and argued that the unprecedented natural forces involved should be taken into account when assessing what happened.

Dix praised Nepal's Army, police, rescue personnel, engineers and local communities, along with international teams involved in the search operation.

Dix Had Earlier Called Nepal Rescue His Toughest Challenge

Dix arrived in Nepal earlier this month to assist teams searching for people believed to have been trapped inside flood-hit hydropower tunnels.

On September 7, he described the situation as something he had never faced before, saying the operation involved multiple potential rescues at different locations, each with its own risks and uncertainties. He also said the experience had reminded him of the Silkyara operation but presented a fundamentally different challenge.

The operation involved Nepali and Indian rescue personnel, including teams from the Indian Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Nepal Flood Disaster Continues to Unfold

The Chilime operation is part of a much wider disaster caused by severe flooding and landslides in Nepal.

According to disaster authority figures cited in the latest report, Nepal's death toll had reached 1,410 as of September 18, while 6,055 people remained missing and 13,756 had been rescued.

India has also continued humanitarian assistance to Nepal, sending additional relief material including medicines, tents, hygiene supplies and sleeping bags.

Silkyara Experience Shapes Dix's Approach

Dix became widely known in India after helping coordinate the rescue of 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in November 2023.

That experience has influenced his approach in Nepal. Earlier in the operation, he emphasised that rescuers should not confuse something being unlikely with being impossible and argued that search teams must continue while there remains a reasonable possibility of saving lives.

At Chilime, however, Dix's latest assessment distinguishes between those caught directly in the initial torrent and other parts of the extensive underground system where searches still had to be conducted.