Hyderabad: Disaster struck the Srisailam left bank canal (SLBC) project near Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district on Saturday, with a portion of the tunnel collapsing and trapping eight workers whose fate was unknown till late in the night. Rescue efforts intensified at the site with rescue personnel from different wings reaching the site. The incident occurred at around 8.30 am when around 50 workers, including engineers from Jaiprakash Associates, the company contracted to build the tunnel, and Robbins, the US-based firm which is doing the digging with a huge tunnel boring machine (TBM), were 14 kilometres inside the tunnel, under the rocks of the Nallamala hills. Three workers who were injured in the incident, were immediately rushed to the nearby TG Genco hospital where they were admitted for treatment. According to reports, there was chaos for some time inside the tunnel as the power supply was lost following the tunnel collapse, likely cutting off the supply cables and it left everyone inside the tunnel in the dark. However, supply was soon restored, while those still inside reportedly used the auxiliary lights they carry when going in. Work on the inlet end tunnel section was resumed just four days ago after a nearly year long break for repairs to the tunneling machine. As soon as news of the disaster broke, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy issued instructions for speedy rescue efforts even as irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy flew to the site in a helicopter and tourism minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who hails from Nagarkurnool district, rushed to Domalapenta. After a quick initial review, the two ministers, and Glen Mynard from Robbins, addressed the media and confirmed that eight people were trapped behind the collapsed section of the tunnel. While there were fears for their safety with the blocked section getting flooded with water, Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed hope that the eight workers would be safe. “There should be no problem with ventilation, I am told,” he said. To ensure supply of fresh air, a huge vent powered by giant fans located at the entrance of the tunnel pumps in air round the clock into the tunnel but it was not immediately known if the vent pipes were also impacted in the collapse. Rescue efforts were expected to be mounted sometime late on Saturday night by National Disaster Relief Force teams deployed by the Centre. In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Chief Minister and assured all help for the rescue efforts. Meanwhile, the state owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited which has its own rescue teams and expertise, rushed a 19-member rescue team to Domalapenta to assist in the efforts. Also at the site was the state disaster response and fire services chief along with his personnel to assist in the rescue efforts. At the media conference at Domalapenta, Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “it is a really unfortunate incident. We also sought help from the Army for the rescue. The government will extend every help and resource to try and rescue the trapped workers safely. That is our first priority over everything else. Once the rescue is done, then we will examine and study what caused the collapse but right now we are completely focused on the rescue efforts.” Special teams to offer health support along with ambulances have been stationed near the worksite for offering immediate treatment as and when the workers are rescued. Answering a question, Uttam Kumar Reddy said seepage of water is a normal occurrence which is dealt with continuously. “Dewatering is a constant process and is part of the work. Just two months ago, a team from the Geological Survey of India inspected the tunnel work and gave the go ahead to restart the work,” he said. Later in the evening, responding to criticism from BRS leaders over the accident, Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the opposition party saying that former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao was well aware that seepage and flow of water as a normal occurrence in the SLBC tunnel works. The previous BRS government gave `19 crore just for dewatering costs. :What happened here is a natural disaster. The reasons of course will be studied in detail, but right now, all our focus is on the rescue efforts,” the minister said. The missing persons have been identified as: Project engineer Manoj Kumar from Unnao, UP; Sri Niwas from Chandauli, UP; workers Sandeep Sahu, Jagta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from– Gumla, Jharkhand; all from Jaiprakash Associates, the contractor, and from Robbins, the tunnel boring contractor, operators Sunny Singh of Gurha Manhasan, J&K; and Gurpreet Singh of Taran Taran, Punjab
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