Hyderabad: Eight persons were trapped in a tunnel after a section of it collapsed in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project on Saturday, and rescue operations were in full swing to extricate them, the state government said.
Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters at the accident site in Nagarkurnool district, about 150 km from Hyderabad, that the state government was taking the help of experts, including those who rescued trapped workers in a similar incident in Uttarakhand last year. He also said that assistance from the Indian Army and NDRF had been sought.
“There is a lot of muck piled up at the accident spot, so the rescue teams are using drones to navigate forward and identify any potential dangers. The rescue operation will continue throughout the night,” sources told PTI.
The teams were hesitant to go inside as loud sounds were still coming from within, sources further said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy stated that work on the “world’s longest tunnel of 44 km” had begun 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 remained, he said.
Earlier, Chairman and Managing Director of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, N Balram, told PTI that a team of 19 experts from the coal miner had also left for the spot to join the rescue operations. According to him, SCCL had the expertise in rescuing people in such incidents and also had the necessary equipment. The rescue team from the company was headed by a general manager-level officer.
Chief Minister Reddy was constantly reviewing the situation and instructed the officials to expedite the rescue operation to save those trapped, the government said.
Expressing concern over the accident, Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy enquired about the reasons for the collapse and asked officials to bring out those feared trapped to safety. He also instructed the officials to provide treatment to the injured, if any, a release from his office said.
