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Despite relentless efforts by the Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force and other agencies, no breakthrough was achieved on Sunday in the rescue operations to extricate eight persons who have remained trapped for over 30 hours inside a tunnel after a section of it collapsed in the SLBC project, with prayers on for their well-being.
Telangana Minister J Krishna Rao told reporters that the chances of survival under the circumstances are "not that good."
"Muck has piled up too high inside the tunnel, making it impossible to walk through. They (rescuers) are using rubber tubes and wooden planks to navigate through it," Krishna Rao, who went inside the tunnel, told reporters.
"We can't say. We are hopeful, but the kind of incident that took place was very serious and chances are we can not say. The chances of survival we can not predict. Chances are not that good," he said when asked about the chances of survival of the trapped persons.
Krishna Rao said some survivors swam across the tunnel after the incident happened.
Videos released by the state government showed rescuers navigating through thick muck, tangled iron rods, and cement blocks.
Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said there were about 70 people working in the tunnel on Saturday morning when a part of it collapsed. Most of them could escape and return using their internal train or locomotive there after the incident.
"But eight people have been missing since yesterday. We are hoping and praying that they are safe..." Reddy said.
The final 200 meters stretch of the collapsed section of the tunnel has been filled with water and silt, the Minister said, indicating the difficulty that the rescue teams are faced with to reach the spot.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said getting heavy machinery into the tunnel became difficult due to the terrain, but officials are working on alternate methods to remove the debris.
The Irrigation Department, Disaster Response Teams, and Defense personnel are coordinating efforts, with oxygen being continuously pumped inside and motors deployed for dewatering, Reddy further said.
The teams that managed to wade up to the 13th kilometer, where the tunnel had collapsed, called out the names of the trapped individuals, but there was no response, sources said.
The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
Of the eight, two are engineers, two operators and four labourers.
Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh, who is supervising the rescue operation, said four NDRF teams--one from Hyderabad and three from Vijayawada, comprising 138 members, 24 personnel of the army, personnel of SDRF, besides 23 members from SCCL along with equipment besides members of the infra firm are engaged in the rescue operation.
"As of now, we don't have communication with them (those trapped)," the collector said on Sunday afternoon.
A NDRF official told a TV channel that a team had last night went inside the tunnel.
There is lot of debris and the TBM is also damaged and its parts are scattered inside.
"There is water logging 2 km just before the 13.5 km point. It is a challenging task and due to this our heavy equipment is not able to reach till the last point and hence dewatering has to be completed which will enable the equipment to reach ahead. Then only the removal of debris can start. Additional motors have been used to speed up the dewatering process," he said.
The team after reaching 13.5 km called those trapped, but did not get any reply from them, he said. After this point there is still a 200 meter patch and it is only after reaching near them would their condition be known, he added
The Engineer Task Force (ETF) of the Bison Division of Indian Army from Secunderabad has been deployed in the rescue operations, a defence release said.
"The Indian Army is working closely with all stakeholders for expediting the rescue efforts. Indian Army's priority remains the swift and safe extraction of those trapped inside," the release said.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi called and spoke to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Sunday over the ongoing rescue operations.
Rahul Gandhi appreciated the steps taken and the constant vigil and monitoring and asked the government to leave no stone unturned to try to save the trapped workers, an official release said.
Governor Jishnu Dev Varma spoke to Nagarkurnool District Collector Santhosh over phone and enquired about the ongoing rescue operations.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren urged Revanth Reddy to ensure all possible assistance for the rescue of the trapped as four of them hail from that state.
As per the preliminary information, the four workers from Jharkhand who are trapped in the tunnel belong to Gumla district in Jharkhand, an official said.