SLBC tunnel collapse: NDRF, SDRF, Rat Miners reach final point; fate of 8 trapped men hangs in balance
Due to muck and debris, the workers have only been able to reach up to 50 meters before the end of the tunnel at SLBC
By Sistla Dakshina Murthy Published on 26 Feb 2025 12:17 PM IST
Telangana: Team of NDRF, SDRF, Rat Minders reach final point at SLBC tunnel collapse, rescue operations are on
Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough, a group of professionals working to rescue the eight trapped men managed to reach the final point of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel on Wednesday.
Due to muck and debris, the workers have only been able to reach up to 50 meters before the end of the tunnel.
"A 20-member team composed of NDRF, SDRF, and Rat Miners were able to reach the tunnel's final points. However, there was a considerable amount of debris. They're figuring out how to proceed," Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad told vernacular media.
The SP said that on Tuesday, the rescue teams were able to go up to 40 meters (before the tunnel ended). Later they crossed that 40-meter mark.
āLast night, the team scoured the spot but found nothing. The Geological Survey of India team that gathered samples has yet to submit its soil strength and other assessments,ā he added.
Top experts from the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, GSI, and other agencies, who are working tirelessly to find a breakthrough in the collapsed SLBC tunnel rescue work despite the threat to rescuers' lives posed by the continuous flow of silt and water, are continuing their operations on Wednesday.
Eight personnel working on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel project were trapped after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on February 22. There was no contact with the trapped persons though oxygen was being pumped into the tunnel continuously, the SP said.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government has requested the Centre to let the National Centre of Seismology perform a seismological investigation to determine the volume of cracks and the level of water saturation in the affected area.
In response to Telangana's request, the National Disaster Management Authority has asked the Geological Survey of India and the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad to perform surface and subsurface assessments of the incident location. It was stated that the evaluation was necessary to ensure the teams conducting rescue operations were safe.
Accidents may happen during difficult works, says Jaypee Group founder
"Accidents may happen during difficult works," said Jaypee Group founder chairman Jaiprakash Gaur on Wednesday. Jaypee Group is the ontracting firm of Srisailam Left Bank Canal project that suffered partial collapse trapping eight persons.
The nonagenarian told reporters at the accident scene that he had witnessed six or seven accidents in his professional career after meeting Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy.
"Such incidents occur in these demanding works. I believe there have been six or seven accidents in my life, including the Tehri project in Bhutan, Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. You must face all of this," he said.
Gaur further said the teams are doing their best to see that those trapped individuals come out. Two engineers and four labourers of the eight trapped persons are working for Jaiprakash Associates.
