Eight workers were feared trapped and several others injured on Saturday after a portion of an under-construction tunnel collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district, The Indian Express reported.
A three-metre stretch of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal collapsed in the morning, leaving about a dozen workers injured, according to The Hindu. Over 50 workers were said to have been working at the site with a tunnel boring machine when the accident took place.
Of those trapped, two were Indian machine engineers working with United States-based tunnelling firm The Robbins Company. The other six had been hired by construction agency Jaiprakash Associates Limited, said Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy.
The seepage of water and soil started slowly and gradually increased, prompting the workers to exit, PTI quoted the minister as saying. They also heard a loud noise and felt a “geological disturbance” outside the tunnel, he added.
Reddy said that those working ahead of the boring machine were the ones stuck inside the tunnel. They were trapped 14 kilometres inside the tunnel, he added.
The state government has reached out to experts, including the team that rescued workers from Uttarakhand in a similar tunnel collapse in 2024, Reddy said. Assistance from the National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Army has also been sought, he added.
A 19-member team from state-owned coal mining firm Singareni Collieries Company Limited also left for the Srisailam Left Bank Canal to join the rescue operations, according to the news agency.
“The fire and disaster management teams, irrigation officials, and the police department are working together under senior officers’ supervision,” Reddy said on social media. “Additionally, the Army rescue team is expected to reach the site by that night.”
The minister added that the ventilation system inside the tunnel remained functional, ensuring oxygen supply to the trapped workers. “Ambulances and medical teams had been placed on high alert, with doctors ready to provide emergency care,” he said.
The work on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal resumed on February 18 following a gap of about five years after the state government decided to complete the tunnel work by December 2026, The Hindu reported.
The objective of the project is to provide irrigation facilities to nearly 4 lakh acres and also provide drinking water to about 200 villages.