This Aussie Hero’s Interview Made My Day

41 Men. 17 Days. The Great Himalayan Tunnel Rescue.

How often do you come across people who are filled with courage, grace, intelligence, humor, kindness, sheer vitality, and exuberance all at once?

While tracking India’s big tunnel rescue story from last week, I encountered an interview that literally made my day.

A little background about the tunnel trap situation.

The Situation

41 miners were trapped in a tunnel for 17 days in the Himalayan Mountains in the state of Uttrakhand in India. The immense and continuous rescue efforts kept receiving setbacks despite the advanced tools and experts.

The Solution

Finally, a ‘Jugaad’ (which means a frugal innovation in Hindi) came to the rescue — ‘Rat mining’ or digging by hand to get the unreachable debris out through a narrow pipe. Few courageous miners executed this mining technique to clear the way. Then, the NDRF (National Disaster Recovery Force) soldiers evacuated all 41 trapped miners.

The 41 trapped men were hopeful through the whole ordeal, practiced yoga, and maintained hearty spirits despite the difficult conditions.

‘Jugaad’ At Its Best

Incredibly innovative ways were implemented to provide food and hydration to the miners for 17 days. Basic mobile phones with games installed were phenomenally sent in to keep the workers engaged and mentally stable. An Endoscopic Camera was used to look into the tunnel trap to identify the 41 trapped workers around 7 days after they were trapped. These frugal innovations were a highlight of the rescue.

Introducing Melbourne Man — Arnold Dix

Another great highlight of the rescue was Mr. Arnold Dix, President of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. He flew in all the way from Australia and led the rescue operations.

Arnold, on his X account, shared a heartwarming video of the celebratory dance by the locals after the successful rescue. (Singing the Arnold Dix song, as they fondly called it.)

What caught my eye, though, was this short interview of his. It was very moving and very funny at the same time.

A very interesting fact that he shared in the interview was that he was also a part of the 9/11 rescue operations that took place underground. He spoke about the different challenges one faces in such rescue operations.

The room where he was put up was a humble apartment in the Himalayas, but he had no complaints and, in fact, was thankful to be a part of such an incredible story.

I watched the 8-minute interview, and it just made me feel so hopeful and thankful for wonderful people like him around the world. It makes me proud to be a fellow human being of such courageous and fine souls who inhabit our earth.

If you are curious about the rescue and how frugal innovations were used to help the trapped miners, watch this incredible news report by the channel India Today, which explains in detail the incredible measures that were taken —

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed my story!

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