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Seven workers are feared trapped after a portion of an under-construction tunnel as part of Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) collapsed in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district on Saturday.
At least 50 workers were on the site when a portion of the tunnel collapsed behind the Srisailam dam near Domalapenta.
According to officials: "The roof of the left-side tunnel collapsed for three metres. The accident occurred at the 14th km point."
While 43 workers came out of the tunnel, the remaining seven were feared trapped. Electricity supply to the tunnel was disrupted.
Police, fire services personnel, and officials of the Irrigation Department rushed to the spot and launched rescue operations.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy rushed to the accident site to supervise rescue operations.
The trapped workers include three from Jharkhand, two from Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy expressed shock over the incident. He alerted the officials soon after receiving information about the tunnel collapse, injuring many people, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.
He directed the District Collector, Superintendent of Police, Fire Services department, HYDRAA and Irrigation officials to rush to the spot and take up relief measures immediately.
The state government had recently resumed the construction work on the tunnel to complete the project. The construction firm had started work four days ago and on Saturday morning 50 workers entered the tunnel.
Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy has expressed grief over the incident. He spoke to officials and directed them to launch a rescue operation to safely pull out the trapped workers.
Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao held Chief Minister Revanth Reddy responsible for the incident.
He said the SLBC tunnel collapse happened a few months after the collapse of the Sunkishala project wall. Rama Rao said both incidents happened due to the government's failure. He demanded a thorough probe into the latest incident.
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