Telangana Tunnel Accident Continuously Increasing Tensions
Nagarkurnool, 26th February 2025: Eight people have been stranded in Telangana’s Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel for four days. Four days after the rescue of eight people trapped in an under-construction tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana, there was no breakthrough, officials said on Sunday. Experts from the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, GSI, and other agencies are facing serious problems due to the continuous flow of silt and water. Water continues to flow in the tunnel at a fast pace. Therefore, the lives of those engaged in rescue work may also be in danger. The Telangana government has roped in experts from the Geological Survey (GSI) and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) to join the rescue efforts.
Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh said, “We are unable to contact the stranded people. We are taking the advice of the Geological Survey of India and others. At the moment we are pumping out water and moving forward. There is still a distance of 40 or 50 meters between the trapped people and the rescue team. We are also taking the advice of GSI and NGRI. L&T experts have also come here. ”
A 44 km-long tunnel is being constructed in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana. Water was leaking about 14 km inside this tunnel. A team of workers and engineers was engaged in stopping it. Then about three meters long part of the tunnel collapsed. Four laborers and four company employees involved in tunnel construction were trapped inside. A total of 50 people were on the spot at the time of the accident. However, the others managed to escape. The tunnel construction work was resumed four days before the accident. A part of the tunnel suddenly collapsed near Domalpenta. The accident took place 14 km inside the tunnel. Two laborers were injured as a portion of the tunnel’s roof collapsed about 3 meters. At the same time, eight laborers are trapped inside. The remaining 42 workers managed to escape.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy described it as the most complex and difficult tunnel rescue operation in the world or at least in India as there is only a single entry or exit in this tunnel.
The case has taken an angle of politics and the political rhetoric over the crash continues. BRS working president KT Rama Rao has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Congress Lok Sabha member Chamla Kiran Kumar Reddy rejected the demand, saying this is not the time for politics and the focus should be on rescuing those trapped inside the tunnel. Reddy said experts from 11 agencies such as the Indian Army, Navy’s Marine Commando Force, NDRF, SDRF, GSI, Rat Miners, and Singareni Collieries Company Limited were working round the clock to save the lives of eight people.
