Muck mixed with water spread over 200 metres poses a challenge to the rescuers trying to bring out the eight labourers trapped for over 24 hours in a collapsed tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district. The roof portion of the 44-km-long tunnel located behind the Srisailam dam collapsed around 8:30 am yesterday. While dozens of workers managed to escape, at least eight workers who were inside to repair a leak got trapped. There has been no contact with the workers after the accident since an internal communication mechanism failed yesterday.

Four teams of the NDRF are on their way to the collapse site while several agencies are already engaged in the rescue operation.

A brief report on the collapse said that noises of shifting boulders indicate the roof in the collapsed site is unstable. Water is gushing out from a fracture on the side of the tunnel wall, the report said, due to which dewatering is needed before the rescue operation.

The report estimated the span of the collapsed roof to be 200 metres, about 13 km from the mouth of the tunnel.

Exclusive footage from inside the tunnel showed a rescuer calling out the trapped labourers by name this morning, hoping that their response would help locate them.

An NDRF official said a rescue team went inside the tunnel last night. They covered 11 km on a locomotive and the remaining 2 km on a conveyor belt. “When we reached the end of the tunnel boring machine, we called out their (workers’) names, but did not get an answer,” he said.

The tunnel is filled with water and workers cannot be located until the debris is cleaned, he added.

The situation is being monitored round-the-clock both at the state and central levels. The Union Home Ministry is also in touch with the state government and concerned departments for assistance.

During a review meeting yesterday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was briefed about the present situation by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar. The meeting was also attended by State Adviser (Irrigation) Adityanath Das and Adviser to the Chief Minister Vem Narender Reddy.

At the meeting, the Chief Minister asked the officials to expedite rescue efforts and ensure government help to the affected families. He has also asked all departments to stay alert during the rescue operations.