The last mile took the most time. While the rescuers had dug more than 13 km into the SLBC tunnel — a part of which had collapsed trapping eight men on February 22 — they could not dig through the last 350 meters because it was blocked by a broken Tunnel Boring Machine, silt and water for more than 72 hours.
On February 22, a portion of the under-construction SLBC tunnel collapsed, Trapping Project Engineer Manoj Kumar and Field Engineer Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, workers Sandeep Sahu, Jagta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand, worker Sunny Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, and worker Gurpreet Singh from Punjab. A week later, search operations continued to find the eight men.
According to rescuers, when they finally removed parts of the boring machine, desilted and dewatered to progress, they were met with a dead end with no trapped workers in sight.
“The tunnel boring machine was 120 meters in length. It broke away during the collapse and travelled towards the tail of the tunnel for about 200 meters. Then there was the space of 40 meters where the men were believed to be trapped. So, in total, we had to traverse through about 350 meters of the most difficult terrain to reach the men,” a rescue operator told the Indian Express.
During the last 72 hours, the rescue team of State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and Singareni Collieries engineers were chipping away parts of the boring machine and desilting and dewatering through slush. “We had to stop many times because the machine parts were blocking the way. Finally, we managed to remove the machine parts for about 200 meters,” the top rescuer explained. The South Central Railways team also did their bit to cut through dangled wires and pipes. “They cut through 60 pipes to reach the dead-end,” the rescuer said. When there was no sight of the men despite reaching the last 100 meters, the rescuers called in the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).
The NGRI team brought in a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) machine which scanned the area, thick with silt. After the scan, four points where bodies of the men could be found were identified. “We dug through these points,” a rescuer said. Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who visited the site Saturday evening, said, “We have identified the location of four people. They will be brought out by tomorrow evening as a lot of desilting is to happen.” The rest of the four can be “brought out only after two days,” Krishna Rao said.
Meanwhile, District Collector of Nagarkurnool, Badavath Santhosh, tried to rally spirits even though the rescuers were digging about three metres into the mud at the dead-end. “The rescue operations are going on and we have not found bodies,” Sathosh told the media in Nagarkurnool, where the tunnel is located. The collector also said that the ventilation system inside the tunnel remained functional, ensuring oxygen supply.
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On Saturday morning, however, the situation remained grim. “We knew that two people were inside the boring machine when the accident took place. So, we are cutting through more parts of the machine to find them,” the rescuer said. To speed up the digging process, two excavators were sent into the tunnel on Saturday morning.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
