Australian tunnel rescuer Arnold Dix says he faces ‘unprecedented’ challenge in flood-hit Nepal

KATHMANDU: Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, internationally celebrated for his pivotal contribution in extracting forty-one trapped workers from India’s Silkyara tunnel during 2023, has characterised ongoing flood mitigation operations throughout Nepal as a professional challenge unlike any encountered previously in his professional life.

Dispatching reports directly from the field in the wake of catastrophic inundations surrounding the Bhote Koshi river, Dix stated early Monday that disaster response squads are steering through a complex, multi-layered emergency.

“Right now, in Nepal, we are facing something I have never faced before,” Dix posted on social media. “Not one rescue, but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved.”

Recalling insights gained from the Silkyara mission, where a singular, highly intricate subterranean extraction successfully restored forty-one men to their families, Dix underlined that current conditions near the Bhote Koshi require transitioning from a singular concentration towards managing several concurrent crisis zones amidst intense unpredictability.

Synthesising Western professional duties with Eastern philosophical frameworks, Dix observed that the magnitude of the calamity demands enduring commitment irrespective of immediate results. “Asian traditions offer another powerful idea: dharma”, he wrote. “The test is not simply whether we succeed. It is whether we continue to do what is right when the path becomes harder, the responsibilities multiply, and the outcome cannot be known”.

7 September 2026 Nepal

Right now, in Nepal, we are facing something I have never faced before.

Not one rescue — but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties and lives that may still be saved.

It has… pic.twitter.com/atrKZxu1JH

— Arnold Dix Prof (@Arnolddix) September 7, 2026

While search and recovery missions proceed across severely impacted segments of the Bhote Koshi corridor, domestic and overseas response units continue traversing perilous terrain to reach isolated populations.

“Silkyara taught me never to confuse unlikely with impossible”, Dix added. “Nepal is teaching me something more: when several lives may depend upon us at once, hope must become discipline, compassion must become action, and duty cannot depend upon certainty of success”.

Specialist response squads and technical personnel maintain continuous operations on-site, contending with persistent water currents and heavy rubble that obstruct routes to devastated settlements.

Amid these ongoing rescue operations following the devastating floods, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reported that an Indian technical team has made encouraging progress in efforts to clear the Chilime tunnel, while an Indian forensic team has processed more than 400 DNA samples.

According to the MEA, the Indian technical team continued its manual efforts to clear the tunnel at Chilime and made progress on a makeshift path that would allow access by heavy machinery. The improvised track is now close to one kilometre in length, while the team has also commenced work on creating rope-based access to the tunnel.

Meanwhile, the Indian forensic team has been processing more than 400 DNA samples at two laboratories in Kathmandu and has already generated around 70 DNA profiles, as stated by the MEA.

In related developments, foreign media journalists seeking to collect news from flood-affected areas along Nepal’s Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers will now be required to obtain a Press Accreditation and Journalist Identity Card from Nepal’s Department of Information and Broadcasting (DoIB), according to an official notice issued by the Government of Nepal.

Concurrently, Nepali authorities have issued an alert along the river basins of the Budhigandaki River following floods in the mountainous region of Gorkha. The alert was prompted by a flood in the Therang River, which flows through Chumanubri Rural Municipality-4 and 2 in the mountainous region of Gorkha district. Officials stated that the flood earlier this morning swept away four houses and a suspension bridge, an incident expected to cause difficulties for tourists trekking in the Manaslu region.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the death toll in the Rasuwa flood and related incidents in Nepal has risen to 1,342, following a review of the latest status of search, rescue, and relief operations at the 36th meeting of the Executive Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and a joint meeting of lead government agencies on Sunday.

The latest NDRRMA update issued at 6 pm on September 6 indicated that around 4,996 people remain missing, including approximately 1,967 in Rasuwa and 2,340 in Nuwakot, alongside around 589 foreign nationals. (ANI)