[ad_1]
Last Updated:
Rescue operations are ongoing in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district to save eight workers trapped after the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel collapsed on Saturday.
The site of a tunnel collapse in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool (Photo: PTI)
More than 24 hours after a section of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project collapsed on Saturday, rescuers and teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Sunday inched closer to eight workers trapped inside, as the operations to extricate them continued.
Quoting sources, news agency PTI reported that the rescue teams involved in the operations in Nagarkurnool, called out the names of the trapped people, but there was no response.
As the construction work resumed recently, as many as 50 persons went inside the tunnel in the first shift along with the tunnel boring machine which is 200 meters long, on Saturday morning.
They went up to 13.5 km inside the tunnel when the roof collapsed suddenly.
Eight members including two engineers, who were ahead of the machine got trapped while 42 others ran towards the outside gate of the tunnel and came out.
TELANGANA TUNNEL COLLAPSE: RESCUE OPS UNDERWAY
The rescue personnel were able to reach up to the 13th km inside the tunnel, a short distance from where the mishap occurred around 8.30 am on Saturday.
#WATCH | Nagarkurnool, Telangana: Rescue operations being carried out inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel as a portion of the tunnel near Domalpenta collapsed yesterday. At least eight workers are feared trapped.(Source: Irrigation and Civil Supply Minister Uttam… pic.twitter.com/XzAvagy5zA
— ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2025
PTI quoted official sources and said state Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and J Krishna Rao had also left for the site to oversee the rescue operations.
“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.
“The (rescue) teams have reached almost up to the last point (till the machine). We are assessing the situation,” a senior police official said on Sunday.
Of the eight, six (two engineers and four labourers) belong to Jaiprakash Associates and two are employees of a US company.
PM NARENDRA MODI SPEAKS TO TELANGANA CHIEF MINISTER
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to inquire about the incident and assured all possible assistance from the Centre for the ongoing rescue operation.
Later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said work on the “world’s longest tunnel of 44 km” began 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 remains to be carried out, he said.
Revanth Reddy was constantly reviewing the situation and he instructed the officials to expedite the rescue operation to save those trapped, the government said.
RAHUL GANDHI EXPRESSES CONCERN
On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi expressed distress over eight people getting trapped in a tunnel after a part of it collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district and hoped for their safety.
In a post on X, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said he has been told that the state government along with rescue teams have been making all efforts to rescue the trapped people.
“I have been informed that rescue operations are underway, and the state government along with disaster relief teams are doing everything possible to expeditiously bring back those in danger,” he said.
The Congress is in power in Telangana.
[ad_2]
Source link