Authorities in the southern Indian state of Telangan are racing against time to save eight construction workers trapped in a tunnel for more than 72 hours.
About 50 workers worked within a 43 km long tunnel (26.7 miles), located in Nagarcurnool district, when part of his roof on Saturday morning.
Officials say 43 have been able to get out for sure, but the efforts to reach the remaining eight men have faced repeated failures due to loose soil, mud and scam inside the tunnel.
They also could not make contact with trapped men or to provide them with oxygen and other basic supplies.
Jupally Krishna Rao, a state minister who has supervised the life effort, told the PTI news agency that “the chances of their survival very distant.”
On Monday, the expert team of “Rudar with Raspira’s holes” – people dressed in a narrow tunnel navigation – arrived to clean the debris and reach the workers. The same team had successfully saved 41 construction workers Trapped in a tunnel after a landslide in the Himalayan state by Uttarakhand 2023.
So far, approximately 33 km of excavation has been completed, and about 10 km has remained on Tuesday.
Rescuers use the train to reach the point where they need to climb the transport tape to remove the debris. Reports say that they are also continuously pumped water to ensure oxygen supply within the tunnel. But the rough terrain of the region slowed them.
As the rescue continued, the families of captured workers – most of whom are daily workers in the daily salary – are eagerly awaiting news of their loved ones.
“I just hope this time my son will come back to safe. I will never send him to earn more,” said Ramprataap Sahu, a resident of Jharkhand.
Others expressed anger in power over the release of family members “to find it detriment.”
“Why did they send men to work there when they knew about the risks involved in the project?” asked Jaspreet Kaur, whose brother is among those trapped.
Part of the Srisailam Channel Srisailam (SLBC) suburbs collapsed about 13 km from the opening at 8:30 local time (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.
The accident happened after a panel of concrete overlap on the roof of the roof slipped and fell. At least a dozen workers were injured in chaos.
The tunnel is part of the longest -lived irrigation of the Telangan Government. Located in a hilly wooded area, it passes through the Tiger Nagarjuna Sagar-Srisaililam reserve, which is the largest in India.
Officials said the construction work continued just four days before the accident, after a blank of almost three years.
On the spot are various help teams, including national forces staff to respond to disasters, firefighters and soldiers from the Indian army.
Officials told the BBC Telug that a team of firefighters first entered Sunday.
“We covered 11 km by train, 2km with a transport belt and the remaining distance on foot,” said the clerk, who wished to remain anonymous. “But then we hit the blockade of the road.”
“There were high mud embankments and soft soil. The boring machine used by the workers were set upside down, blocking all the passage beyond.”
Rescuers said they were forced to come back from that point because they did not have the necessary tools and machinery to clean the strawberry.
“We shouted and screamed, whistled and showed torches, hoping for an answer, but we didn’t hear anything.”
The relatives of some captured men are now desperately hoping for a miracle.
“When I left home, my wife kept me, crying and said, don’t come back empty handed. Return my son,” said Rampetap Sahu, the father of one of the workers.
“But what can I do? I can only sit here and pray to God to bring my son back. I don’t want anything else.”
