Telangana tunnel collapse: Minister says chances of survival of workers bleak; water, silt impede rescue operation
Telangana tunnel collapse: Nagarkurnool district collector B Santhosh said there was no communication with those trapped.
Telangana tunnel collapse: Telangana minister J Krishna Rao on Sunday hinted at a bleak future for the eight workers who have been trapped inside the collapsed portion of a tunnel, saying the chances of their survival are "not that good".
The Telangana government has pressed the Indian Army, NDRF and other agencies into the rescue operation. However, no breakthrough was achieved on Sunday despite relentless efforts to extricate the trapped workers of the SLBC project.
"Muck has piled up too high inside the tunnel, making it impossible to walk through. They (rescuers) are using rubber tubes and wooden planks to navigate through it," Krishna Rao, who went inside the tunnel, told reporters.
He said the chances of survival of the workers are slim.
"We can't say. We are hopeful, but the kind of incident that took place was very serious and chances are we can not say. The chances of survival we can not predict. Chances are not that good," he said.
He said after the tunnel collapsed, some survivors swam to safety.
Videos released by the state government showed rescuers navigating through thick muck, tangled iron rods and cement blocks.
The state government informed the media that 70 people had been working inside the tunnel on Saturday morning when it collapsed. Most of them escaped and came out of the under-construction tunnel using an internal train.
The government said the final 200-metre-long stretch of the collapsed portion of the tunnel has been filled with water and silt.
Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said getting heavy machinery into the tunnel became difficult due to the terrain.
Telangana tunnel collapse: No response from trapped workers’
The teams that managed to wade up to the 13-kilometer-mark shouted the names of the workers but received no response, PTI reported, citing sources.
Nagarkurnool district collector B Santhosh also told PTI that there was no communication with those trapped.
A rescue worker informed the media about the challenges of the rescue operation.
“There is water logging 2 km just before the 13.5 km point. It is a challenging task and due to this, our heavy equipment is not able to reach till the last point. Hence, dewatering has to be completed, which will enable the equipment to reach ahead," he said.
With inputs from agencies
