metro india news  I hyderabad

As eight persons got trapped around 14 km inside the tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project after part of its roof collapsed on Saturday, a rescue team made headway and reached the spot where a tunnel boring machine was working during the incident, Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh said on Sunday.

However, silt poses a challenge to move further to reach the spot where the people are believed to have been trapped, he added. The collector, who is supervising the rescue operation, said four NDRF teams, one from Hyderabad and three from Vijayawada, comprising 138 members, 24 personnel of the army, personnel of SDRF, 23 members from SCCL with equipment besides members of the infra firm are engaged in the rescue operations.

The rescuers have reached the point where the tunnel boring machine is there. As there is silt after that point, the NDRF team is making plans to go forward.Oxygen and power supply has been made available in the tunnel and dewatering and the de-silting operation is also underway."As of now, we don't have communication with them (those trapped). The rescuers will go inside and see and then we will be able to tell,” he said.

A NDRF official told a TV channel that one of the teams had last night went inside the tunnel. There is a lot of debris and the TBM is also damaged and its parts are scattered inside. "There is water logging 2 km just before the 13.5 km point. It is a challenging task and due to this our heavy equipment is not able to reach the last point and hence dewatering has to be completed which will enable the equipment to reach ahead. 

Then only the removal of debris can start. Additional motors have been used to speed up the dewatering process," he said. The team after reaching 13.5 km called those trapped, but did not get any reply from them, he said. After this point, there is still a 200-meter patch and it is only after reaching near them their condition would be known, he added.

Rahul Gandhi calls CM Revanth to discuss about tunnel collapse

Rahul Gandhi on Sunday reached out to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy regarding the ongoing rescue efforts at the SLBC tunnel.During a phone conversation that lasted nearly 20 minutes, CM Revanth Reddy detailed the government's quick response to the situation, which included sending Minister Uttam Reddy to the site and deploying the NRDF and SRDF rescue teams.

He also explained the measures taken to provide medical assistance to the injured and the outreach efforts to connect with the families of those trapped inside. Rahul Gandhi expressed his appreciation for the actions taken and the continuous monitoring of the situation, urging the State government to make every possible effort to rescue the trapped workers. Make all-out efforts to ensure safe return of those trapped inside tunnel

Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma also spoke over the telephone with the District Collector of Nagarkurnool and enquired about the ongoing rescue operations. The Governor has been briefed on the efforts to ensure the safe return of individuals trapped in the tunnel collapse in Nagarkurnool District. The District Collector provided updates on the rescue operations, informing that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the Army, along with experts, are actively engaged at the site.

Jishnu Dev Varma has directed the authorities to make all-out efforts to ensure the safe return of those trapped inside the tunnel. He has also emphasized the need to expedite the rescue operations and instructed officials to keep him regularly informed of the developments.