A team of experts undertook the rescue mission to rescue eight laborers stuck for the last five days in the fallen SLBC tunnel in Nagarkurnool of Telangana, which reached the end of the tunnel but had not yet found the occupants. The rescue process is still tricky because of the piled muck and debris.
The rescue team has reached the site where the tunnel boring machine (TBM) was operating at the time of the collapse, but heavy silt accumulation is obstructing further movement, Nagarkurnool District Collector B. Santhosh confirmed.
VIDEO | Telangana tunnel accident: Rat miners and NDRF rescue teams reach almost the end of the tunnel. Eight persons remain trapped for the past five days in the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel.
(Source: Third Party)
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Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad said that a 20-member team, comprising personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and Rat Miners, approached the last part of the tunnel but found too much debris. “A 20-member team comprising NDRF, SDRF, and Rat Miners were able to reach the last points of the tunnel. But there was a lot of debris. They are working out how to go about it,” Gaikwad stated.
Advances in Rescue Operations Despite Debris Obstacles
Rescue teams have been making slow progress in the tunnel, up to 50 meters short of the endpoint amid dangerous conditions. “One day before they were able to reach up to 40 meters (before the end of the tunnel). Yesterday they reached (crossed) that 40 meters also,” Gaikwad said. The teams are yet to find any of the trapped workers, though.
Experts from various agencies, such as the Indian Army, Navy, Geological Survey of India (GSI), and others, make sustained efforts despite the threat of constant silt and water influx. The GSI team has taken soil samples but is still to submit their reports on soil strength and other important parameters.
A Complicated and Challenging Operation
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, during a press meet, termed the SLBC tunnel rescue effort one of India’s most complex, perhaps even in the world, because of having only a single entry and exit point. He said that oxygen is continuously being supplied into the tunnel but as yet there is no communication with the trapped workers.
Families Wait in Hope as Rescue Efforts Continue
The tunnel collapse happened on February 22, with eight workers buried beneath the rubble in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel. Families of the buried workers await with bated breath as rescue operations are on, hoping they will be safely recovered.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Mallu Vikramarka guaranteed that the state government was determined to help rescue the men and would not let up until the eight buried men were rescued.
