A breakthrough remained elusive to the rescue team in its bid to retrieve the eight men trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) at the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana even on the fourth day of its collapse as Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy overseeing the rescue operations termed it to be the most difficult tunnel accident in the country.

The last 50 metres remain a stumbling block to the rescuers due to the presence of heavy slush as well as debris from the Tunnel Boring Machine. The roof slabs have also come off due to continuous water seepage. There is 2-2.5 feet of water at 11.3 km inside the tunnel. The continuous seepage of water despite dewatering poses another challenge for the rescuers who themselves are at considerable risk since the tunnel itself has become unstable.

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The Navy drivers would be unable to wade through the accumulated water due to the presence of heavy slush. The NDRF has deployed sniffer dogs into service in the rescue mission of the eight workers including two engineers.

Meanwhile, the conveyor belt that was damaged during the accident is being repaired so that it could be used to bring out the accumulated slush. Rescue teams have mapped out the SLBC tunnel with a detailed diagram to locate and reach the trapped workers.

“NDRF, SDRF, and rat miners feel this is the most difficult operation in the world. This tunnel has an exit only on one side and on the other side there is end rock. This incident happened probably due to a tectonic shift. Ten agencies, including the Indian Army, Navy’s MARCOS, NDRF, SDRF, GSI, and Singareni Collieries Company – all have come together for this operation. We have formed a unified command monitored by Arvind Kumar, special chief secretary of the disaster management department,” said N Uttam Kumar Reddy after a review meeting.

Two more government agencies who have experience of tunnelling – Border Road Organisation and National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) – will also join the rescue mission.

The minister slammed the BRS for criticising the government and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy saying it was “shameful”. “Anybody who is criticising, please remember, there is no space for disgraceful politics,” he said, reminding the BRS about the fire accident at the Srisailam Left Bank Power Plant that led to eight fatalities, and another at the Kaleshwaram Project which led to seven deaths.

BRS Working President KT Rama Rao said, “All they have to show after four days of work at SLBC is eight missing people, a bunch of debris, slush and a Rs300 crore damage to the machinery… If you didn’t do any technical study before restarting the project and carelessly put lives and public money at risk you have no one to blame but yourselves. We demand a comprehensive judicial inquiry into the SLBC tunnel collapse.”