India : 8 workers trapped 14 km inside the tunnel

Army also engaged in rescue
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have joined the rescue operation after the roof of a tunnel collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district on Saturday. Eight workers are still trapped inside it. Apart from this, the Army has also rapidly deployed its Engineer Task Force (ETF) for rescue operations. Officials said that the ETF, equipped with modern technology, is carrying out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations at the accident site.

Telangana Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters at the accident site in Nagarkurnool district, about 150 km from here, that the state government was taking help of experts, including those who had rescued trapped workers in a similar incident in Uttarakhand last year. Besides, the government was also taking help of the Army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), he said.

Among the trapped people, two are engineers and two are operators. Four others are labourers. All of them are from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Sources said that fresh air is being supplied in the tunnel to ensure the safety of the trapped people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and inquired about the incident and assured all possible help from the Center for the rescue operation. A senior police officer said that NDRF and SDRF teams have reached the spot and an army team is reaching there.

After the construction work resumed recently, 50 people entered the tunnel carrying a 200-metre long tunnel boring machine in the first shift on Saturday morning. “They had gone 13.5 km inside the tunnel for work when suddenly the roof collapsed. Eight members, including two engineers, who were walking ahead of the machine, got trapped while 42 others ran towards the outer gate of the tunnel and came out,” the official said. He said efforts were being made to rescue them with the help of experts. “The process of dewatering is going on…it is a continuous process which is complicated,” the official said.