Operations to rescue the eight men trapped inside an under-construction tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district continued on February 24, Monday, with the involvement of teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Army and other agencies.
A team of rat-hole miners who were part of the team involved in the 2023 Silkyara tunnel operation in Uttarakhand have also joined the rescue efforts.
More than 48 hours after a portion of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) irrigation project’s tunnel collapsed, the fate of eight men, including two engineers and two machine operators, was not known.
Teams of the Indian Air Force and Navy are also reaching Srisailam in three helicopters from Visakhapatnam to join the rescue operation.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel managed to reach the tunnel boring machine at the 14th-kilometer point but heaps of debris hampered the search operation.
The tunnel remained flooded with water for about two kilometres, making the rescue task more challenging for more than 300 rescue workers. Rescue teams deployed heavy motors for dewatering.
The operation encountered more problems as the loco train being used to move into the tunnel broke down at the 11th kilometre. Efforts were on to fix the problem.
NDRF, Army, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), and Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) were making efforts to dewater and desilt the tunnel.
Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao, who were supervising the rescue operation, went into the tunnel by a loco train on Sunday, February 23.
Jupally Krishna Rao told media persons after coming out of the tunnel that the rescue teams were not hearing any voice, which is not a hopeful situation. He, however, said oxygen was being supplied in the tunnel.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said all efforts were being made to pull out the trapped men safely. He said the possibility of reaching the spot by digging the tunnel from the top was being explored.
NDRF Deputy Commandant Sukhendu Datta said that the task is challenging as the tunnel is filled with water.
"Our heavy equipment can't reach the accident spot. Water has to be pumped out for the equipment to move in to clear the debris," he added. He said the rescue teams called out trapped men but there was no response. "We can't say where are trapped men are and in what condition," he added.
Two workers were injured and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel being dug as part of SLBC collapsed near Domalapenta.
A total of 50 persons were working on the left-side tunnel when the roof collapsed for three meters. The accident occurred at the 14th km point.
While 42 workers came out of the tunnel, the remaining eight were trapped. Those trapped include two engineers and two machine operators.
The trapped men are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
Project manager Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Machine engineer Srinivas (Uttar Pradesh) and machine operators Sunny Singh (J&K) and Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) are among those trapped.
The four workers from Jharkhand are Sandeep Sahu, Santosh Sahu, Anju Sahu and Jagta Khes.
The Telangana government recently resumed the construction work on the tunnel to complete the long-pending project. The construction firm had started work four days ago and on the morning of February 22, 50 workers entered the tunnel for the work.