Srisailam Tunnel Collapse: Rescue Efforts Intensify

Rescue efforts are in full swing to locate and extricate the eight workers trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel following the collapse on February 22.

The incident occurred at the 14-km mark near Domalapenta in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district.

Despite continuous operations involving multiple agencies, the workers remain unaccounted for after more than a week. A comprehensive rescue operation is underway, involving over 600 personnel from various disaster management agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Army and the Navy. The teams are focusing on dewatering and desilting the tunnel to reach the collapsed section. Advanced equipment such as plasma gas cutters and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) are being utilised to expedite debris removal and locate the trapped individuals.

The individuals trapped have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, Gurpreet Singh from Punjab, and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand. Two of them are engineers, two are operators and four are labourers, and all are employees of Jaiprakash Associates, the contracting firm for the tunnel project.

The rescue teams face significant challenges due to continuous water seepage and substantial debris within the tunnel. Efforts are concentrated on five locations identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) using GPR technology, where soft materials have been detected under the debris. However, officials caution that these findings are not definitive indicators of the workers' locations.

Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santosh has refuted reports that bodies had been found, urging media outlets to avoid unverified information that could cause panic. He said that while certain points had been identified by NGRI, their exact nature remained uncertain.