TRISHULI BAZAAR/DEHRADUN: Australian tunnelling expert Arnold Dix, who became widely known in India for his role in the 2023 Silkyara (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue, has described the search operation around Nepal’s flood-ravaged hydropower projects as being like “23 Silkyaras going on at the same time”.Dix, advising Nepal govt on rescue efforts at Trishuli 3A hydropower project, told TOI Tuesday that the disaster was unlike a conventional tunnel rescue. He said 27 hydropower plants were damaged, with 12 suffering severe damage. He is overseeing the Trishuli 3A operation, where around 50 lives could be at stake.At the project, teams are working to drain water from an access tunnel and clear the route towards the powerhouse, where survivors may be trapped. “We’ve had some good progress today,” Dix said. “We’re now at that critical stage where we’ve found the tunnel, we’re getting water out, and we can start to head up towards the power station.”However, he warned rescuers may have to dig 10m or 100m depending on how much mud and water filled the tunnel. Breaking through a blockage could release trapped water if the emergency shutdown failed. Large boulders could also slow excavation.Dix said he was fortunate to be working with “a team of fantastic Indian Army engineers” who had also worked with him during Silkyara rescue. Draining the tunnel could also lower water levels inside the powerhouse, he said.Once water is drained and access established, rescuers will excavate towards the powerhouse, which Dix compared to Silkyara, when 41 workers were brought out alive after being trapped for 17 days.Asked whether teams received signs of survivors, Dix said absence of signals could not be treated as proof that nobody was alive. He remained hopeful that if workers had survived, they were likely to be in upper part of the powerhouse.