SLBC Tunnel Collapse: Rescue Operations Still Underway, Rescuers Reach Tunnel’s End

Four days after the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana collapsed eight men are still trapped. A high-level rescue operation is underway. The rescuers managed to cover 13.79 km of the 13.85 km long tunnel to save the ones trapped inside. Covering the last part of the tunnel is quite challenging because of a mix of water and slush at the collapse site. The rescuers reached the last part of the tunnel but returned empty-handed on February 26. The rescue operation is still underway.

VIDEO | Nagarkurnool SLBC Tunnel Collapse: Rescue operation still underway at the incident site to rescue eight trapped workers.

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/ptWxAlL7M3

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 26, 2025

The bleak situation in Nagarkurnool district persists as the relatives of those stranded in the tunnel anxiously await their return home.

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Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad said to PTI, “A 20-member team comprising NDRF, SDRF, and Rat Miners were able to reach the last points of the (tunnel). But there was a lot of debris. They are working out how to go about.”

Total 11 national and state agencies, including the Indian Army, Navy, Marcos Commandos, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), MORPH, Singareni, HYDRAA, Geological Survey of India (GSI), Navayuga and L&T tunnel experts, and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), are working in a coordinated manner to rescue the eight workers trapped inside the SLBC tunnel.

Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh from J&K, Gurpreet Singh from Punjab, and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu, and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand are the names of people who were trapped in the tunnel. Two engineers, two operators, and four workers make up the eight. The tunnel collapsed on February 22.