8 persons trapped after part of tunnel collapses in Telangana, rescue ops in full swing
Hyderabad: Eight persons were trapped in a tunnel after a section of it collapsed in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project on Saturday and rescue operations were on in full swing to the extricate them, the state government said. Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters at the accident site in Nagarkurnool district, about 150 km from here, that the state government is taking the help of experts, including those who rescued trapped workers in a similar incident in Uttarakhand last year, and also that of the Indian Army and NDRF. Two of the trapped are engineers of an infra firm and two are operators, employed with a US company. Four others are labourers. Thy all belong to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhad, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir Fresh air was being pumped into the tunnel to ensure the safety of those trapped, sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to inquire about the incident and assured all possible assistance from the Centre for the ongoing rescue operation. Teams of NDRF and SDRF have reached the spot and a team of army personnel is on its way, a senior police official said. After the construction work resumed recently, as many as 50 persons went inside the tunnel in the first shift along with the tunnel boring machine which is 200 meter long, on Saturday morning. "As part of the work, they went up to the 13.5 km inside the tunnel when the roof collapsed suddenly. Eight members including two engineers, who were ahead of the machine got trapped while 42 others ran towards the outside gate of the tunnel and came out," the official said.
Efforts are being made to rescue them with the help of experts, he said adding "dewatering process is on...it is a continuous process which is complicated one". The personnel were trapped 14 kms inside the tunnel. They also heard a loud sound as they felt some "geological disturbance" outside the tunnel, the minister said. "Our government is doing everything to save the lives of those eight persons. We also spoke to the experts involved in saving the individuals in the Uttarakhand incident," Uttam Kumar Reddy said. CM Reddy briefed the PM on the situation, informing him that efforts were already underway to rescue the trapped individuals, according to a release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Reddy also mentioned that state ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao were present at the site, overseeing the rescue operations..Drones are being deployed to guide the teams entering the tunnel, official sources said, adding, the way was clear up to the 13th km of the tunnel, as the collapse occurred at the 14th km..However, the rescue teams remain apprehensive about the overall condition of the tunnel, they said. "There is a lot of muck piled up at the accident spot, so the rescue teams are using drones to navigate forward and identify any potential dangers. The rescue operation will continue throughout the night," sources told. The teams are hesitant to go inside as loud sounds are still coming from within, sources further said. Uttam Kumar Reddy said work on the "world's longest tunnel of 44 kms" began to draw water from the Srisailam project to irrigate four lakh acres in the Nalgonda district.
Of the 44 km, work on about 9.50 km remains to be carried out, he said. Earlier, Chairman and Managing Director of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd N Balram told PTI that a team of 19 experts from the coal miner has also left for the spot to take join the rescue operations. According to him, SCCL has the expertise in rescuing people in such incidents and also has the necessary equipment. The rescue team from the company is headed by a general manager level officer. Chief Minister Reddy was constantly reviewing the situation and he instructed the officials to expedite the rescue operation to save those trapped, the government said. Expressing concern over the accident, Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy enquired about the reasons for the collapse and asked officials to bring out those feared trapped to safety. He also told the officials to provide treatment to the injured (if any), a release from his office said.
