A team of six rat miners, who had rescued those trapped in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, on Monday joined the relief operations for bringing out the eight men trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal which is the world’s longest irrigation tunnel.
Rescuers have ruled out boring either through the top or the sidewalls of the tunnel. Marine Commandos (MARCOS) from the Navy and teams from L&T, IIT Madras and Uttarakhand have also reached the site to help in rescue work.
Telangana minister Jupally Krishna Rao who has been camping out from day one described the chances of survival for the eight men trapped inside as very “remote”. He further said that the accident site was filled with silt and debris making it a tough task for the rescuers and it would take another 3-4 days to reach those trapped. In the last 150 metres from the accident site the muck has piled up on the tunnel floor.
“When we took photographs the end of the tunnel was visible. And out of the 9 meter diameter of the tunnel almost 30 feet and mud has piled up till 25 feet, “ said the minister. Such was the force of the water and the silt entering the tunnel that the Tunnel Boring machine (TBM) was flushed away by 200 metres following the collapse. The rescuers have been dewatering the tunnel and pumping in fresh oxygen.
The situation at SLBC is quite different from the Uttarakhand tunnel, said an expert.
Although rescuers have not made much progress, the politics over the SLBC tunnel accident has not abated.
Taking to ‘X’ BRS working president KT Rama Rao lashed out at chief minister Revanth Reddy for choosing to go on election campaign for upcoming MLC elections.
He wrote, “On one hand the government is saying that there is no chance of survival for those trapped even before the rescue operations are underway and on the other hand the chief minister has forgotten his responsibility to supervise the rescue operations and provide reassurance to the families of the victims saying that elections are our first agenda. Does the government even have the slightest humanity?”
He even compared Revanth Reddy with Nero playing the fiddle while Rome was burning.
Slamming Rao Congress spokesperson Sama Ram Mohan Reddy said, “It is a narrow tunnel. If the chief minister camps out there then the whole attention would shift and rescuers would be inconvenienced. The chief minister is constantly in touch and reviewing the situation. I want to ask KTR if he or his father (KCR) went to Kaleshwaram after Medigadda reservoir developed cracks?”