Telangana Tunnel Collapse: 8 Trapped, PM Modi Calls CM Revanth Reddy | 10 Points

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 in full swing to 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 Hyderabad, that the state government was taking the help of experts, including those who rescued trapped workers in a similar incident in Uttarakhand last year. He also said that assistance from the Indian Army and NDRF had been sought.

Telangana Tunnel Collapse: Latest Updates

1. Two of the trapped were engineers of an infrastructure firm, and two were operators employed with a US company. Four others were laborers. They all belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir. Fresh air was being pumped into the tunnel to ensure their safety, sources said.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to inquire about the incident and assured all possible assistance from the Centre for the ongoing rescue operation.
3. Teams of NDRF and SDRF reached the spot, and a team of army personnel was on its way, a senior police official told PTI.
4. After the construction work resumed recently, 50 workers went inside the tunnel in the first shift along with a 200-meter-long tunnel boring machine on Saturday morning.
5. "As part of the work, they went up to 13.5 km inside the tunnel when the roof collapsed suddenly. Eight members, including two engineers ahead of the machine, got trapped while 42 others ran towards the outside gate and came out," the official said.
6. Efforts were being made to rescue them with the help of experts, he said, adding, "Dewatering process is on... It is a continuous and complicated process."
7. The personnel were trapped 14 km inside the tunnel. They also heard a loud sound and felt some "geological disturbance" outside, the minister said.
8. "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.
9. CM Reddy briefed the PM on the situation, informing him that rescue efforts were already underway, according to a release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). He also mentioned that state ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao were present at the site, overseeing the operations.
10. Drones were being deployed to guide the teams entering the tunnel, official sources said, adding that the way was clear up to the 13th km, as the collapse occurred at the 14th km. However, the rescue teams remained apprehensive about the overall condition of the tunnel.

Also Read: Workers Feared Trapped After Tunnel Collapse in Hyderabad, CM Orders Rescue Operation

"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 PTI.

The teams were hesitant to go inside as loud sounds were still coming from within, sources further said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy stated that work on the "world's longest tunnel of 44 km" had begun 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 remained, 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 had also left for the spot to join the rescue operations. According to him, SCCL had the expertise in rescuing people in such incidents and also had the necessary equipment. The rescue team from the company was headed by a general manager-level officer.

Chief Minister Reddy was constantly reviewing the situation and 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 instructed the officials to provide treatment to the injured, if any, a release from his office said.