The rescue effort to take out eight workers who are stuck in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana entered its fourth day without any progress yet. The workers have been stuck since Saturday morning, when a part of the tunnel collapsed while excavating the tunnel with a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM).
The rescue teams from the Indian Army, NDRF, SDRF, Singareni Collieries, and NHIDCL are at work, supported by six rescuers from the 2023 Silkyara tunnel rescue mission in Uttarakhand. There is no contact as yet with the workers, however, who were from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand.
What's making the rescue operation so challenging?
Rescuers indicated that conditions within the tunnel have worsened overnight, with a heavy seepage of water and a solid wall of mud hindering entry. NDRF's 10th Battalion Commandant Prasanna Kumar informed The Indian Express that the rescue parties, comprising Indian Army and Navy personnel, are finding it difficult to move through 11 feet of slush, which has lowered visibility to zero.
“Navy commandos attempted to make a cut, but they were not equipped for this kind of mud wall,” an official told The Indian Express. Efforts to drill through the slush using available equipment have also failed.
A top Irrigation Department official reported to the Times of India that just 5 to 10 meters of distance between the rescuers and the underground workers is left. But the collapse has rendered it very risky to venture in.
Rescue techniques and challenges
The authorities have sent probe scopes as well as sonar equipment to scan the conditions within the tunnel. But the rescue teams have reported finding twisted metal, concrete rubble, and other blockages making it unsafe to enter.
Kumar disclosed that even rat-hole miners, experts in narrow shafts, were hired, but they were unable to work in the waterlogged environment.
“Right now, there is no existing technology that can help us clear this slush fast enough,” Kumar said.
Rescue officials said natural rock structures in the tunnel have become loose, leading to an unexpected flow of water and mud that filled approximately 12–13 feet of the tunnel.
How long before the workers are rescued?
Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy conceded that the challenging terrain has hampered the operation, which has not allowed the use of heavy machinery for faster removal of debris.
Experts believe that removing the slush and metal debris with tunnel boring machines may take a few more days.
A rat miner of the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue operation informed that his team would go in along with NDRF and SDRF officers to inspect the tunnel before further movement.
Who are the trapped workers?
Among the trapped are:
- Sunny Singh (Jammu & Kashmir) and Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) – Engineers with The Robbins Company, an American tunneling firm.
- Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas (Uttar Pradesh) – Engineers with Jaiprakash Associates.
- Sandeep Sahu, Jagta Xess, Santosh Sahu, and Anuj Sahu (Jharkhand) – Construction workers.
With the rescue operation entering its next crucial phase, the authorities are still finding all available alternatives to rescue the trapped labourers before things go from bad to worse.
