SLBC tunnel collapse: One month on, seven workers still untraced

Rescuers proceeding with extreme caution as the final 40-metre accident stretch is a ‘prohibited zone’

Hyderabad: After a month-long massive operation involving over a dozen agencies including the Indian Army, the SLBC tunnel rescue mission stands today at a crossroads. The highly vulnerable 40 metres accident stretch, still looked upon as a prohibited point, remains the last unexplored zone. Authorities are facing a grim dilemma – risking further into the cave-in point or acknowledging that the seven missing workers may never be found.

Just four days after resuming the tunnel boring operations after a long gap, a major accident took place on February 22. The collapse occurred during routine operations involving a tunnel boring machine (TBM), when a section of the tunnel roof gave way, burying the workers under a mix of silt, rocks, and machinery. While the body of one worker, Gurpreet Singh, identified as a TBM operator from Punjab, was recovered on March 9 after 16 days of relentless search, the other seven have eluded rescue efforts despite a month of round-the-clock operations.

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The missing workers from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Jharkhand were part of a team working on the SLBC irrigation project in Nagarkurnool district. As of Saturday, there were no signs of their survival. The rescue teams could not trace any more human remains either.

Rescue operations carried out, involving over 300 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and specialised teams like Singareni Collieries miners and Kerala’s cadaver sniffer dog squad, were hampered by the precarious conditions inside the tunnel.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has designated the final 40-metre stretch of the debris-filled tunnel a “prohibited zone”, warning that any disturbance could trigger another collapse. This has forced rescuers to proceed with extreme caution, relying on advanced tools like hydraulic robots, liquid ring vacuum pumps, and conveyor belts to clear the estimated 1,500 tonnes of debris.

Despite these efforts, progress has been slow. On March 18, in a breakthrough like experience, the mangled remains of TBM were retrieved to a major extent.

The progress achieved raised hopes, but no traces of the missing workers were found. By March 20, with 27 days elapsed, searches in the “safe zone” between points D1 and D2 — identified by sniffer dogs — yielded nothing, deepening the uncertainty. Family members camped near the site at Domalapenta were losing all hope.

“We don’t know if they’re alive, trapped in some air pocket, or gone forever,” said a relative of one of the missing workers. Officials spearheading the rescue mission were under extreme pressure from them. The State government has provided support, including an ex gratia payment of Rs 25 lakh to Gurpreet Singh’s family.

But for the families of the seven still missing, help remained elusive. Questions are also raised about the project’s safety protocols. Experts faulted the apparent dismissal of seismic warnings from 2020. The circumstances suggest that human oversight may have contributed to what some call a preventable tragedy.