Telangana tunnel rescue operation to be intensified with new plan of action, no sign of trapped workers (Lead)

Hyderabad, Feb 26 (IANS) The operation to rescue eight persons trapped in the partially-collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district will be intensified with state Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy expressing the hope that it will be completed in two days.

He told media that the rescue efforts, which entered the fifth day on Wednesday, would be speeded up. Rescue teams will now be moving forward with a concrete plan of action to reach the accident site through the silt.

At the review meeting the minister had with officers of various agencies and experts involved in the rescue operation, it was decided to go for full-fledged dewatering and desilting.

The review meeting decided to completely remove the silt. The Army, the Navy, the National Disaster Response Force and other rescue personnel will execute the plan without risking the lives of the workers. The help of rat miners will also be taken.

The minister said that experts in the construction of tunnels in border areas and those who participated in rescue operations after similar tunnel accidents in other parts of the country are being taken for the rescue operation.

“Best experts in the country and serving and retired Army officers were invited. They went into the tunnel and came out after assessing the situation,” said the minister.

The rescue teams are also taking the suggestions of tunnel experts from other countries to move forward.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that gas cutters will be used to remove parts of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which was damaged after a portion of the roof collapsed on February 22.

Earlier, a team of rescue workers from different agencies finally succeeded in crossing the last 40-metre stretch and returned but there was no word about the fate of the eight persons.

Earlier, tunnel experts from the Border Security Force (BSF) were roped in as part of the efforts to reach the head portion of the TBM.

At an earlier review meeting with Telangana ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, top officials of the agencies involved in the rescue mission informed that efforts were underway to remove the slush to reach the last 40 metres.

With this stretch filled with mud and debris and water seepage continuing, rescue workers had not made any headway for more than 24 hours.

A team of rat miners also went inside the tunnel to assess the situation. Their representative told the media that the TBM was not seen and feared that it could be buried under the mud.

Rescue teams of the NDRF, the Army, the Navy and other agencies have not been able to advance further due to 7-9 metre high mud while the continuous seepage of water has made the entire operation risky for the rescue workers.

On a request from Telangana, the National Disaster Management Authority has requested the National Remote Sensing Centre and the Geological Survey of India to conduct surface and sub-surface assessment of the incident site. This assessment is needed for the safety of the teams carrying out rescue operations.

Roping in experts from various agencies across the country and deployment of advanced equipment have not helped in what is believed to be the most difficult tunnel rescue operation in India.

The accident occurred 14 km inside the tunnel. While the rescue teams had already reached 13.5 km, they could not advance further for the last two days due to mud, the debris of TBM, and seepage of water. The divers of the Navy’s special forces unit Marcos were also unable to negotiate the slush.

Rescue workers say more soil is falling from fresh cavities at the exact spot of the tunnel collapse, adding to mud. As the slush is more than 70 per cent, the Navy divers were unable to go through it.

With more than 100 hours after the accident, the chances of survival of the trapped men are stated to be remote.

Meanwhile, Jaypee Group founder Jaiprakash Gaur visited the tunnel on Wednesday and said they were making their best efforts to rescue to trapped men. Jaypee is the contracting firm for the SLBC project.

Gaur said after completing the rescue operation, the company would resume the work to execute the project. He told media persons that they have encountered such incidents during tunnel works. He said this sixth or seventh accident in his life.

–IANS

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