Telangana Tunnel Rescuers Faces Heightened Danger, Experts Explain Why 

The race to rescue eight workers trapped in the Telangana tunnel has taken a turn for the worse – with less than 50 metres between them and freedom – after a one-metre-increase in the wall of slush threatening to bury them, NDTV was told Monday evening, 48 hours after the collapse.

Rescue operations may be forced to slow down, NDTV was then told, after experts raised questions about the stability of the collapsed section. Any more digging, it is believed could not only further endanger the trapped workers but also risk the lives of those trying to save them.

So far five teams have gone into the tunnel; the last, which included geologists and drone experts, left at 3.30pm and is expected to return later this evening.

But it is the feedback from the fourth, which went in at 1am today and returned saying the previously seven-metre-high slush wall is now at least a metre higher, that has caused concern.

This happened between the time the second team came out and the fourth went in.

A National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, or NHIDCL, official told NDTV the quantity of slush had increased, and that this could be due to another leakage.

Rescue officials believe a massive 3,200 litres of water is flooding the tunnel every minute, mixing with the vast quantities of sand, rock, and debris to make more mud and slush.

This increase in slush could also be from a gradual build-up, the official said.

In either case, NDTV was told, the situation is now very dangerous, and that it might be safer, for all concerned, to not conduct “intensive” rescue ops at this time.

Chris Cooper, an Australian tunnel expert, offered a similar assessment; he said the entire area appears unsettled and that it might to be too dangerous to continue with heavy-duty digging.

Experts have also flagged the problem of shifting boulders – as suggested by noises reported from the four teams – that indicate the roof in the collapsed portion is still unstable.

The NHIDCL led the third and fourth rescue teams; the first two were led by the National Disaster Response and the Army, respectively.

Meanwhile, the state government has sent the latitude and longitude of the collapsed tunnel to the National Remote Sensing Agency and the Geological Survey of India for details on existing fault lines. This is to assess the risk of a second collapse that could also bury the rescue teams

Telangana minister Jupally Krishna Rao has told NDTV there is only a “remote” chance the workers will be found alive. “Muck has piled up… rescuers are using rubber tubes and wooden planks to navigate. Chances of survival are very, very remote… but we are hopeful…” he said.

Special teams, including commandos and the rat-miners – who helped save 41 workers trapped in an Uttarakhand tunnel in November 2023 – have been put on standby.

The proposed 44km-long tunnel collapsed Saturday while a team of workers were inside repairing a water leak. All but the eight who were trapped managed to escape.

There has been no contact with them since.

On Sunday rescuers released footage from inside the tunnel in which they could be heard shouting out the names of the eight trapped workers. In the video one of the rescue workers could be heard saying, “Some voices are coming…”

The trapped men are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.