The rescue operation at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district, where eight men have been trapped since Saturday morning, has become more difficult with heavy seepage of water and mud, rescuers told The Indian Express.
NDRF’s 10th Battalion Commandant Prasanna Kumar told The Indian Express on Monday that after a lengthy meeting with the Navy, Army and other organisations to take stock of the situation, none of the experts present at the site could suggest how to navigate through the thick wall of slush to reach the trapped persons.
“The Navy commandos tried but were not equipped for this kind of a wall of mud, which has increased in height to about 11 feet. It is like a large quicksand pit. The visibility has gone to zero. We have deployed probe scopes and sonars which revealed the presence of dangerous debris like twisted metal, concrete chucks and other material. Anyone who ventures into it will be seriously injured. A rat hole worker has arrived, but he cannot help either because he can work only in dry conditions. Here, we are dealing with a thick wall of mud-water mix. Right now, we do not have any technology to help us make our way through this wall of slush to reach the men. We have not been able to establish contact with the trapped persons so far,” Kumar said.
According to officials, natural rock formations in the tunnel became loose during the rescue operation, causing sudden water and mud inflow that filled about 12-13 feet of the tunnel. “This is a highly challenging situation, and technical experts are working round the clock to resolve the crisis,” Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said. Reddy said that the terrain is making it difficult to bring in any heavy machinery or equipment that may help remove the slush faster.
Officials said that removing the slush and tangled metal pieces from the tunnel boring machine may take days.
A senior state government official told The Indian Express, “Drilling from above or the sides is ruled out. The top surface is 400 metres high, and we don’t know where the faultline lies. All teams are working in coordination… In regular course also, about 3,500 litres of water is inside the tunnel. It is common and nothing new. Silt from the tunnel collapse has made things difficult to operate.”
The official added, “Uttarakhand (Silkyara tunnel collapse, where 41 men were rescued after days) was a different case. The accessibility issue was only 200 metres. Firstly, a proboscope was sent inside and then food, etc was sent. Here, the location is 14 kilometres inside.”
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Vaibhav Gaikwad, the Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police, told The Indian Express, “We are awaiting a report from an NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute) team regarding the stability of the soil, and hopefully, the team will be able to grab some visuals tonight from the exact location. As of now, we don’t have any communication with the people trapped inside. Experts from all across the country are being reached out to for assistance. Ventilation and lighting until the last 50 metres is adequate, but the real challenge is the area beyond. We are not in a position to disturb the collapsed area.”
Concerns about the well-being of the eight persons have escalated as nearly 60 hours have passed since a portion of the ceiling collapsed on Saturday morning, 13.5 kilometres inside the tunnel.
Trapped inside are Sunny Singh from Gurha Manhasan, J&K, and Gurpreet Singh from Taran Taran, Punjab – two engineers of the American tunnelling firm The Robbins Company; Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from UP, both engineers with Jaiprakash Associates; and construction workers Sandeep Sahu, Jagta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
