HYDERABAD: Six members of the team behind the heroic Nov 2023 Silkyara tunnel rescue operation in Uttarakhand joined the Army, NDRF, SDRF and local agencies on Sunday in accelerated efforts to save the eight workers – two of them engineers – trapped inside a collapsed portion of Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district, reports Roushan Ali.
As the clock ticked on an operation that yielded little in over 36 hours, families of the trapped men and agencies trying to reach them drew hope from the rescue of 41 workers confined for 17 days inside the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel after a portion had caved in.
Silt, water pose challenge for rescue team at Telangana tunnel
Fears centred around the possibility of debris, including segments of the tunnel’s concrete slab, having fallen on the eight workers. There was no contact with any of the trapped men until late Sunday, although rescue teams were stationed just outside the roof collapse site 13.5km inside the tunnel.
The teams couldn’t make any headway beyond the tunnel boring machine and debris because of the twin barriers of silt and water.
Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who is supervising the rescue effort along with his colleague N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said there was waterlogging along a 2km stretch leading to the collapse point. “Getting through this is a challenging task. We have to flush out the water before the equipment can push ahead. Only then can removal of debris start. Additional motors have been brought to speed up water removal,” he said.
An irrigation department official said there was hardly 5 to 10 metres of space left where the eight workers were believed to be trapped.
“The Telangana govt has requisitioned the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue team along with rat-hole miners to assist in the operation because they have the expertise. Better to have more hands in such a situation. We hope all lives will be saved,” he added.
The ground above the tunnel is 400 metres or nearly half a kilometre in height. Agencies involved in the operation are exploring all possible options to find the easiest exit for the trapped workers.