The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) joined rescue operations after the roof of a tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district collapsed on Saturday as eight workers were still trapped inside it.
Also, the Army has also swiftly mobilised its Engineer Task Force (ETF) for rescue operations. Equipped with modern technology, the ETF is conducting Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations at the accident site, officials said.
The accident occurred due to the slippage of a concrete segment that was used to seal seepage at the 14-km inlet of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel, which runs from Srisailam towards Devarakonda.
- Telangana minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was present at the accident site in Nagarkurnool, said that the state government has roped in experts, including those who carried out rescue operations when a similar incident happened in Uttarakhand last year.
- Among the eight trapped people are two engineers of an infrastructure and two operators of a US company, while the remaining four are labourers, who hail from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday and inquired about the incident and the ongoing rescue operations. PM Modi assured all possible assistance to the state from the Centre in carrying out the rescue operations and bring the trapped workers back to safety.
- On Saturday morning, around 50 people entered the tunnel along with the 200-meter-long boring machine after the construction work of the tunnel resumed recently. The workers are trapped 14 kilometers inside the tunnel.
- Rescue teams are using drones to navigate forward and identify any potential dangers as there is a huge chunk of muck piled up at the accident site.
- State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd’s Chairman and Managing Director N Balram told news agency PTI that a team of 19 experts from the coal miner also left for the spot to join the rescue operations.
- Telangana government officials have been instructed to establish and continue real-time communication with Chief Minister Reddy to update him on the progress of the rescue operations at the tunnel.
Article source: indiatoday.in
