International tunneling expert Arnold Dix who was called for the Uttarkashi rescue operation on Wednesday said the mission witnessed a miracle and he would go to the temple as he had promised to say thank you at the temple when the operation was going on. Hours later, Dix was seen offering his prayers at the temple of local deity Baba Bokh naag ji.

Arnold is the head of the Geneva based International Tunneling Underground Space Association. He is also a geologist, an engineer and a lawyer. He said it had been an honour as a parent to help out all parents in getting their children back home. He had promised in the beginning that 41 people would go unhurt by Christmas. He said Christmas had come early.

He said it had been a challenging mission. He said everyone in the team was focused on bringing the boys home. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese applauded Dix’s effort and was extra happy as Dix is an Australian. He took to X(formerly Twitter) and wrote he was proud of the role Australian Professor Arnold Dix played on the ground.

Dix thanked the Australian Prime Minister that it had been his privilege to show that Australians are fantastic at not just cricket but at other things as well including tunnel rescue. Arnold Dix was seen praying at a makeshift temple at the rescue site on Tuesday when the breakthrough was just a matter of time with the rat miners manually digging the way out. The video has gone viral on social media.      

Arnold said the rescue team remained calm and knew exactly what was wanted. He said everyone had worked as a wonderful team: the army, the engineers, all the agencies and the Fedral authority. He said it was joy to be part of the successful mission.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Wednesday said that India has formed a high-level enquiry committee to look into the security concerns raised by the United States government. Recently, the US claimed that the government, at the seniormost level, raised concerns with India and shared inputs on a nexus between organised criminals, gun runners and terrorists.

The United States government’s allegation followed a news report that American authorities thwarted a plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil. Reacting to the claim last week, Arindam Bagchi said that during the course of recent discussions on India-US security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others. These inputs are a cause of concern for both countries and they decided to take necessary follow-up action, the external affairs ministry spokesperson added.

Reports started last week that there was a conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen, the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, and a designated terrorist in India. The report stated that the US President Joe Biden raised the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September.

Issuing a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that they have already noted that during the course of discussions with the US on bilateral security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others. The statement added that the ministry also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue.

The ministry further stated that in the aforesaid context on 18 November 2023, the Government of India constituted a high-level Enquiry Committee to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter. It added that the Indian government will take necessary follow-up action based on the finding of the Enquiry Committee.

In a tragic incident, six people, including a woman, were injured after several ground-plus-one-storey structures collapsed in Chembur’s Old Barrack area on Wednesday morning. Reports said that the incident occurred following a gas cylinder blast. The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) rescued 11 people safely. A search operation is currently underway at the accident site. 

Furthermore, no casualties have been reported so far. The gas explosion incident was reported at 7.52 am in Chembur Camp near the Golf Club. As per the locals quoted by The Indian Express, a gas cylinder blast triggered the collapse of approximately four or five structures, leaving the residents of the houses stranded. 

In an effort to help the rescue operations, the Mumbai Fire Brigade was deployed into the service and declared the call as ‘Level I’ at 10 am. Meanwhile, as the rescue operations are currently underway, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asserted that 11 people stranded on the first floor have been rescued safely by the fire department officials.

Reports stated that six of the injured were taken to the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi for treatment. It added that amongst the six, four belonged to the same family. 

The victims in the gas explosion have been identified as 50-year-old Vikas Ambhore, 47-year-old woman Savita Ambhore, Ashok Ambhore, 27-year-old man, Rohit Ambhore, 29-year-old man, Rahul Kamble (35) and Parth Singh (21). The medical officers at Shatabdi hospital stated that all the injured have been admitted to the OPD and are reportedly in stable condition.

This incident comes nearly two weeks after another gas cylinder blast in Mumbai’s Bandra that injured eight people. Many of those injured sustained severe burns affecting 35 to 40 percent of their bodies. The Mumbai Fire Brigade said that the incident took place in the Bandra area of Mumbai around 6.19 am on Saturday and that they believe that the fire was caused by an LPG cylinder explosion.