National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams on Sunday intensified rescue efforts to save eight persons trapped in an under-construction tunnel after a portion of its roof collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district on February 22.
Four teams comprising 150 personnel were engaged in the rescue operation, which continued throughout the night.
The rescue teams have reached closer to the point where the tunnel roof collapsed during the digging work on Saturday.
At least two workers were injured and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel being dug as part of Srisailam Left Bank Canal (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 NDRF team, which reached up to 11th km in a loco train, found water and mud beyond this point. About three feet of water was accumulated in the tunnel. The NDRF personnel moved ahead on foot and reached closer to the point where the roof of the tunnel had caved in.
The tunnel boring machine was badly damaged in the accident. The water which gushed out from the tunnel roof and the soil pushed back the machine up to 80 meters.
Water and mud accumulated on both sides of the machine hampering the rescue effort. According to officials, water has to be pumped out and mud has to be cleared for the rescue work to progress further.
Earlier, three teams of NDRF reached the accident site from Vijayawada while four teams arrived from Hyderabad. Teams from the Indian Army and Singareni Collieries Company Limited and personnel of the State Disasters Response Force (SDRF) were participating in the rescue operation.
The trapped men are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
State Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Reddy were monitoring the rescue operations along with the district Collector, Superintendent of Police and other top officials.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy expressed shock over the incident and assured that the government would extend all possible help to the families of the victims.
The state government had 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 Saturday morning 50 workers entered the tunnel for the work.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said the work was started on the tunnel after a survey by the Geological Survey of India. He told the media that the company that was hired for the work has a good record in digging tunnels.
He said soon after the work began on Saturday morning, water started entering the tunnel and soil caved in. “The workers who came out said they heard an explosion, which could be a geological disturbance,” he said, adding that those who were in front of the boring machine were trapped in the tunnel.
“The government is making all possible efforts to rescue the trapped persons. We are getting the best tunnel experts in the country to oversee the rescue effort,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over the phone and enquired about the incident.
The Prime Minister informed him that the NDRF team would be deployed immediately for rescue operations and assured all support from the Central government.
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