Intense Rescue Efforts on to Locate 7 Trapped in Telangana’s Tunnel Collapse

Rescue operations persisted on Monday at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana, where seven individuals remain trapped following a partial collapse on February 22. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Singareni Collieries, rat miners, and other experts are focusing on specific spots identified by cadaver dogs and radar surveys, striving to locate the missing workers.

The body of Gurpreet Singh, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator for Robbins Co, was recovered on Sunday after over 48 hours of meticulous digging. Buried under 10 feet of silt, Singh was identified by his earring and tattoo. His remains were sent to his hometown in Punjab, accompanied by a Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia cheque from the Telangana government, in addition to insurance provided by Robbins Co.

A senior official reported that Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDD) from Kerala police, deployed twice inside the tunnel, may return on March 11. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys by Hyderabad’s National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) are guiding efforts, while three excavators have cleared most metal debris, nearing 100 meters from the TBM’s tail end. Advanced robotics with surveillance tools are expected to be operational by March 11, with another unit arriving by March 14.

State Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar, overseeing the operation, praised the teams for retrieving Singh’s body and met with officials to ensure seamless coordination. The trapped workers include Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Sunny Singh (Jammu & Kashmir), another Gurpreet Singh (Punjab), and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, and Anuj Sahu (all from Jharkhand)—a mix of engineers and laborers caught in the collapse.

The incident, which occurred during the SLBC project’s tunneling work, has drawn attention to safety concerns in such infrastructure ventures. With all arrangements in place, rescue teams remain committed to locating the seven still missing, as the operation enters its third week amid challenging conditions.