Rescue team races against time to save eight trapped workers
PNS n hyderabad
Rescue operations at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapse site near Domalapenta have intensified, with efforts underway to locate and extract the trapped workers. A multi-agency team, including personnel from the Army, Navy, Singareni Collieries, the central government’s roadways department, Jaypee, and Navayuga, has so far conducted seven rounds of tunnel inspections. The team comprises 584 expert personnel who have previously been involved in successful rescue missions in Uttarakhand. Additionally, 14 specialized rat-hole miners have been deployed to aid in the search.
The team of rat miners, who had rescued the construction workers trapped in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has joined the rescue teams to extricate the men. Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy expressing optimism, he stated that a mobile phone belonging to one of the trapped officials had rung, and based on its signal, their location had been identified.
After being trapped for over two days under debris and muck, the chances of survival of the eight persons in the SLBC tunnel following a partial collapse appear bleak, even as every effort is made to reach them. On the orders of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, officials left for Telangana with the family members of workers from Jharkhand trapped in the under-construction tunnel in Telangana. Under the leadership of Gumla District Administration, one member each from 4 families and a police officer left for Telangana from Birsa Munda Airport. Hemant Soren said, “Our officers are in touch with the Telangana government”
Despite relentless efforts by the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF and other agencies, no breakthrough has been achieved so far in the rescue operations as the teams had to navigate through thick muck, tangled iron rods, and cement blocks to reach the accident spot in the tunnel to extricate the persons who have remained trapped for over two day inside the tunnel after a section of it collapsed in the SLBC project in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district on Saturday morning.
To trace the missing workers, sniffer dogs were brought in, but their movement was hindered due to water accumulation inside the tunnel. Meanwhile, repairs on the damaged conveyor belt have been initiated. Authorities have ruled out the vertical drilling proposal, which involved creating an opening from above to access the trapped workers. Currently, five gas-cutting machines are operating round the clock as part of the rescue efforts.
State Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy has been personally monitoring the rescue operations from the Domalapenta project site since morning. Later in the evening, he chaired a high-level review meeting at the JP office, attended by Special Chief Secretary for Disaster Management Arvind Kumar, District Collector Badavath Santosh, local MLA Dr. Vamshi Krishna, HYDRAA Commissioner Ranganath, and senior officials from the Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, MoRTH, Navayuga, SCCL, and JP organizations.
The persons who have been trapped in the collapsed tunnel for the past over 48 hours have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh (Jammu and Kashmir), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand. Of the eight, two are engineers, two operators and four labourers. Their families are arriving to the Site.
