8 workers trapped as T’gana tunnel caves in

At least eight people were trapped inside an under-construction tunnel in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana after a portion of its roof collapsed on Saturday, prompting authorities to launch urgent but cautious rescue efforts, people aware of the matter said.

According to officials, 51 workers were carrying out excavation work through a hill, about 120km from Hyderabad, when a part of the tunnel’s roof caved in at around 8.30am. Most of the workers escaped but some, including two site engineers, were trapped behind a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) close to the 14-km mark in the tunnel, they added. Around 34km of the 44km proposed tunnel is already built, officials said.

“There were 51 workers inside the tunnel during the incident, and 43 of them have come out safely. The roof caved in to the extent of three metres at around the 14-km mark inside the tunnel,” Nagarkurnool superintendent of police Vaibhav Gaikwad said.

The trapped men were identified as project engineer Manoj Kumar, field engineer Sri Niwas — both residents of Uttar Pradesh; workers Sandeep Sahu, Jagta Xess, Santosh Sahu, Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand; Sunny Singh, a worker from Jammu & Kashmir; and Punjab-based worker Gurpreet Singh. The authorities were yet to establish contact with the trapped men. The exact cause of the collapse was also not immediately known. Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and Robbins India Ltd were carrying out the construction work, officials said.

Md Allauddin, one of the workers who managed to escape the tunnel, said they noticed water seeping from the roof some time after the commencement of the work. “Even before we realised what was happening, the cement concrete rings on a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed along with mud with a loud sound,” he said.

Allauddin said those closer to TBM managed to rush out but some were left behind. “We heard them shouting for help, but there was no way we could go to their rescue as we were all running for our own lives,” he said.

The tunnel is part of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project, which seeks to provide 30 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water to Nalgonda from the Srisailam reservoir. The project started in 2005 during the tenure of then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. It came to a halt in 2017 during the BRS regime. The construction work restarted four days ago.

“Soon after the roof collapsed, the electric wires snapped, plunging the tunnel into darkness. Searching for the trapped men has become difficult due to darkness. It seems water filled the tunnel after the cave-in and formed a slush,” state minister for irrigation N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who reached the tunnel site, said.

An official of the Robin India Ltd said the ventilation system inside the tunnel remained functional, ensuring oxygen supply to the trapped workers. “We stopped the excavation work immediately and supervisors quickly evacuated as many workers as possible,” the official said requesting anonymity.

Reddy added that teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have joined the rescue efforts. “We have also called for the army to help rescue the trapped workers,” Reddy said.

He added said they have also reached out to the state-owned coal mining firm Singareni Collieries Company to help in the rescue efforts .“SCCL has the necessary expertise to handle critical situations such as roof collapses. We also have necessary equipment imported from Australia, the US, and Poland to help in the rescue efforts,” the firm’s chief managing director (CMD), N Balram, said.

The state minister said that they have also got in touch with the team that helped rescue 41 workers from a collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand two years ago. “When a similar tunnel accident happened in Uttarakhand, all the workers were rescued. Now the team that was part of that operation is being brought here for assistance,” he added.

On November 12, 2023, a part of the cavernous tunnel between Silkyara and Barkot collapsed when the workers were attempting to complete the final 400m stretch of the 4.5km-long tunnel on the Yamunotri National Highway. They labourers were rescued 17 days later after a daring but painstaking operation.

Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy said he is closely monitoring the rescue work and has directed officials to provide all the assistance to the affected families.

“I have directed officials to expedite the rescue operations to save the eight people trapped in the tunnel… The government will stand by the affected families,” he said in a post on X.

The Telangana chief minister’s office said Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Reddy and took stock of the situation.  “The Chief Minister has informed the Prime Minister about the complete details of the incident... The Prime Minister assured that the Central Government is ready to provide full support,” the CMO said in a post on X.