A team of experts engaged in the rescue operation for the eight workers trapped in the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel managed to reach the end of the tunnel and return, a senior police official confirmed on Wednesday.
The individuals have been trapped for five days, with continuous efforts underway to locate and retrieve them.
Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad stated that the teams had previously managed to reach up to 50 metres before the tunnel’s end but were hindered by debris and silt.
“A 20-member team comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Rat Miners were able to reach the last points of the tunnel. But there was a lot of debris. They are working out how to go about,” he told a certain section of the media.
He further added, “One day before they were able to reach up to 40 metres before the end of the tunnel. Yesterday, they crossed that 40-metre mark as well.”
However, after searching the area, they could not find anything last night. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) team has collected soil samples but has yet to submit reports on soil strength and other factors.
Efforts to locate the missing workers continue despite the challenges posed by the continuous inflow of silt and water.
Experts from the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, and GSI remain involved in what Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy has described as “the most complex and difficult tunnel rescue operation in the world or at least in India,” due to the SLBC tunnel having only one entry and exit point.
There has been no contact with the trapped workers, though oxygen is being pumped into the tunnel continuously, he said.
The collapse occurred on February 22, trapping eight workers involved in the SLBC tunnel project. The contracting firm responsible for the project, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, is a flagship company of the Jaypee Group.
Founder Chairman of the Jaypee Group, Jaiprakash Gaur, visited the site on Wednesday and acknowledged the challenges involved in such projects. “In these difficult works, such things happen. In my life, I think there might be six or seven accidents, the Tehri project, in Bhutan, in J&K, everywhere. You have to encounter all this,” he said after meeting Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy.
Gaur stated that rescue teams were doing their best to ensure the safe retrieval of the trapped individuals.
Of the eight workers, two engineers and four labourers are employees of Jaiprakash Associates. The company had earlier informed stock exchanges that on February 21, between 10 am and 11 am, 60 people, including engineers, technicians, operators, and the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in-charge, were present at the site.
According to the company, the shift in charge observed unusual sounds and instinctively ordered an evacuation. As workers rushed to safety, large amounts of water, stones, sludge, and mud suddenly fell from the roof, filling a 300-metre section of the tunnel.
When a headcount was conducted, it was discovered that eight workers, including two officers, were missing. Since then, efforts have been ongoing with the involvement of response teams, medical personnel, and district administration to retrieve those trapped.
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