The operation to rescue eight persons trapped in the partially-collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district entered the sixth day on Thursday. Army, Navy, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and rat hole miners were engaged in intensified efforts to remove silt and debris from the tunnel. Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy is hopeful that a breakthrough in reaching the trapped men could happen ‘very soon’ The rescue teams had not been able to advance further for the last two days due to 7-9 metre high silt in the last 40-meter stretch. The government is also taking the help of experts in the construction of tunnels in border areas and those who participated in rescue operations after similar tunnel accidents in other parts of the country. The National Disaster Management Authority has requested the National Remote Sensing Centre and Geological Survey of India to conduct a surface and sub-surface assessment of the incident site. This assessment is needed for the safety of the teams carrying out rescue operations.
