The race to rescue eight workers trapped inside a tunnel in Telangana has taken a turn for the worse, despite less than 50 metres remaining between them and freedom.
A meter of slush rose inside the tunnel, making the situation even more dangerous, according to NDTV on Monday evening, 48 hours after the collapse. This increased the risk of getting trapped.
Experts are worried about how stable the collapsed section is, so rescue efforts may have to be slowed down.
Some people are worried that digging deeper could put the trapped workers in even more danger and also put the lives of the people trying to save them at risk.
So far, five teams have entered the tunnel; the most recent team, which included geologists and drone experts, left at 3:30 pm and is expected to return later in the evening.
When the fourth team went in at 1 am, they said that the slush wall that was 7 meters high before had risen by at least another meter. This caused the most concern. This change occurred between the exit of the second team and the arrival of the fourth.
An official from the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) informed NDTV that the increase in slush may be due to another leakage.
Rescue officials estimate that an enormous 3,200 litres of water is entering the tunnel every minute, mixing with vast quantities of sand, rock, and debris to form more mud and slush.
The NHIDCL worker and Australian tunnel expert Chris Cooper have expressed concerns over the situation at a collapsed tunnel. They suggest that the slush rise could be due to slow buildup and that heavy-duty digging may be unsafe. Experts also warn of the danger of shifting boulders and the unstable roof of the collapsed section.
The NHIDCL led rescue teams in the collapsed tunnel, while the NDRF and Indian Army led the first two. The state government provided latitude and longitude to the National Remote Sensing Agency and Geological Survey to assess fault lines, assessing the risk of a second collapse.
Rescuers are using rubber tubes and wooden planks to navigate a piled-up mess in a 44 km tunnel in Uttarakhand. The tunnel collapsed on Saturday, allowing only eight workers to escape. Special teams, including commandos and ‘rat miners’, have been placed on standby. No contact with trapped workers has been reported.
The trapped workers are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.
