Telangana tunnel collapse: Victims of the Nagarkurnool tunnel collapse are unlikely to come out even as rescuers try their best to bring them on ground, an official said on Sunday.
Eight persons got trapped around 14 km inside the tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project in Nagarkurnool, Telangana, on Saturday after a part of its roof collapsed while they were working.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, rescue Singareni Collieries general manager Srinivas Reddy said the water inside the tunnel has filled up 11 kilometres, leaving behind little chances of the trapped persons making it outside.
“We inspected the spot yesterday and today, and the water has filled up to 11 kilometres. There is less chance of the victims coming out, but we are trying our best efforts to bring out the workers who are trapped under the tunnel,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Earlier in the day, Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh said that a rescue team had reached the spot where a tunnel boring machine was working during the collapse incident.
Four NDRF teams – one from Hyderabad and three from Vijayawada, with 138 members, 24 personnel of the army, personnel of SDRF, 23 members from SCCL, as well as members of the infra firm are leading the rescue operations.
Silt, water major challenges
Apart from the unprecedented rise in the water levels, silt has been posing a major challenge in the rescue operations of the Telangana tunnel collapse that began last night. They had reached the point where the tunnel boring machine was there. However, there was silt after the point, which is when the NDRF team planned to go inside.
An NDRF official on Saturday night said that one of the teams had gone inside the tunnel to find a lot of debris and a broken tunnel boring machine.
The team after reaching 13.5 kilometres called those trapped, but did not get any reply from them, the official said. Oxygen and power supply has been made available inside the tunnel to provide support to the victims.
Srisailam Left Bank Canal project tunnel collapse: What happened?
A three-kilometre section of the roof of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel caved in on Saturday morning. The roof of the under-construction tunnel collapsed at the 14th km mark near Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district.
Eight labourers, who were working when the tunnel collapse occurred, are feared trapped inside.
The accident happened just four days after construction work had resumed following a lengthy hiatus.
(With inputs from agencies)
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