Srisailam canal tunnel collapse: Efforts intensify to save trapped workers

Hyderabad: Rescue teams are making progress in reaching the engineers and workers trapped inside a tunnel after a section of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project collapsed on Saturday. As the rescue efforts enter their second day, operations to extricate them remain underway.

At the accident site in Nagarkurnool district, located approximately 150 km from Hyderabad, rescue teams attempted to establish contact by calling out the names of those trapped. However, there was no response, sources reported.

Rescuers have advanced up to the 13 kms inside the tunnel, nearing the location where the mishap took place at around 8.30 am on Saturday. As per official sources, state Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and J Krishna Rao are heading to the site to oversee the rescue efforts.

"Rescuers will have to clear the debris-filled with iron, muck and cement blocks. The teams were able to reach up to the 13th km where the collapse occurred. They are assessing the situation at the place where the Tunnel Boring Machine was last placed on Saturday," sources told PTI.

A senior police official added, "The (rescue) teams have reached almost up to the last point (till the machine). We are assessing the situation." Among the eight individuals trapped, six—comprising two engineers and four labourers—are associated with Jaiprakash Associates, while the remaining two are employed by a US-based company.

Following the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi contacted Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday to inquire about the situation and assured that the Centre would provide all necessary assistance for the ongoing rescue efforts. As of Sunday, the operation continues, involving personnel from the NDRF, SDRF, the Army, and employees of the construction company.

The tunnel construction work, which recently resumed, had around 50 workers entering the site in the first shift along with the 200-metre-long tunnel boring machine on Saturday morning.

They progressed up to 13.5 km inside when the roof suddenly caved in. Eight individuals, including two engineers who were ahead of the machine, became trapped, while the remaining 42 managed to escape by rushing towards the tunnel’s entrance.

Uttam Kumar Reddy highlighted that work on the "world's longest tunnel of 44 km" had commenced diverting water from the Srisailam project to irrigate four lakh acres in the Nalgonda district. Of the total length, 9.5 km of construction remains unfinished.

The government stated that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is closely monitoring the situation and has directed officials to accelerate rescue operations to ensure the safe retrieval of those trapped.