Nagarkurnool: Efforts to rescue the eight workers trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana's Nagarkurnool collapsed on Saturday entered the fourth day on Tuesday.
To suggest the way forward regarding the rescue, the Telangana state government has roped in experts from the Geological Survey of India and the National Geographical Research Institute besides an Australian part of L&T who has vast experience in tunnels.
Multiple teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army and other agencies continued their efforts on Tuesday even as hopes of finding survivors receding fast. More than 72 hours after a portion of the tunnel collapsed, the fate of eight men, including two engineers and two machine operators, was unknown. The rescue teams had to navigate through thick muck, tangled iron rods, and cement blocks to reach the accident spot in the tunnel to extricate the persons from the partially collapsed tunnel.
Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh on Tuesday said before taking any step forward stability of the tunnel has been taken into consideration even as dewatering is going on.
“As of now we are not able to communicate with them (trapped). We are taking the advice of the Geological survey of India and some other people. As of now we are dewatering and going forward. But for the last 40 or 50 meters we are not able to go. As of now we are taking the advice of GSI and NGRI. L& T experts have also come here,” the collector said.
He said the teams were able to reach the last fifty meters where the eight persons were trapped, due to accumulation of muck and debris. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy are expected at the accident spot today to oversee the rescue operations and make some crucial decisions, sources said.
A team of 584 skilled personnel of Army, Navy, Singareni Collieries and other agencies along with central and state disaster response teams, have conducted tunnel inspections seven times, official sources said adding gas cutters to cut the metal rod are continuously working.
Telangana Minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Monday said the chances of their survival are "very remote," and rescuing the trapped individuals would take at least three to four days, as the accident site is filled with muck and debris, making it a daunting task for the rescuers.
He also mentioned that a team of rat miners, who had rescued the construction workers trapped in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has joined the rescue teams to extricate the men. (With inputs from agencies).
