A part of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana collapsed on February 22. 8 employees got trapped in it. The rescue operation to rescue them safely continued for the third day on Monday.
Apart from the Army, NDRF, and SDRF, other agencies of the state government are also engaged in the rescue operation. The team that rescued the people trapped in the Silkyara tunnel of Uttarakhand has also been included in it. In 2023, a part of the Silkyara tunnel collapsed. 41 people were rescued safely after 17 days.
Telangana government minister Jupally Krishna Rao said that the accident took place about 13 km from the mouth of the tunnel. The rescue team is 100 meters away from the trapped people, but the operation is facing difficulties due to water and mud. There is little chance of the workers surviving. Our efforts are continuing.
NDRF-SDRF and Army personnel in rescue
145 NDRF and 120 SDRF personnel are deployed for the rescue. An army engineer regiment is part of the Infantry Division in Secunderabad. It has also been deployed in the rescue.
The accident happened on February 22 at around 8:30 am. About 3 meters of the tunnel roof collapsed 13 km inside the tunnel’s entry point. During this time about 60 people were working inside the tunnel.
52 people somehow saved their lives and came out, but 8 people running the tunnel boring machine (TBM) got trapped. These include 2 engineers, 2 machine operators, and four laborers. A rescue operation is being carried out.
Called inside the tunnel, no response was received
District Magistrate B Santosh said that the rescue teams had reached the tunnel where the boring machine was working. Contact could not be established with the employees trapped inside. There is difficulty in moving forward due to the mud.
According to the SDRF officer, there is no way to enter the tunnel. There is mud up to the knees. Oxygen is being sent inside the tunnel. A 100-horsepower pump has been ordered to remove water.
Shri Nivas is from Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh
Shri Nivas (48), trapped in the collapsed tunnel in Telangana, is a resident of Matigaon in the Sadar Kotwali area of Chandauli district. Shri Nivas has been working as a Junior Engineer (JE) at JP Company in Hyderabad since 2008. Apart from this, Manoj Kumar (50), a resident of Unnao, is also working as an engineer in the same company. He is the son of Arjun Prasad, a resident of Matkuri village of Behta police station.
Gurpreet of Punjab had returned to work 20 days ago
Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, Punjab, is also trapped in the tunnel. He has his mother, wife, and 2 daughters at home. The elder daughter is 16 years old and the younger one is 13 years old. The father has passed away. Gurpreet has studied till the 10th. He had returned from home to work only 20 days ago. The family has less than 2 acres of land.
The retaining wall collapsed in Sunkishala in August
Earlier in August 2024, the retaining wall collapsed in Sunkishala near Nagarjunasagar Dam in Telangana. Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) had blamed the Congress government for this and demanded a judicial inquiry. Congress had retorted saying that the project was started under BRS rule. The wall collapsed due to poor quality.
