Telangana Minister for Tourism and Culture Jupally Krishna Rao said on Monday that there were “very, very, very, very remote” chances of survival for the eight persons trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel in Nagarkurnool district after the structure partially collapsed two days ago, reported PTI.

Rao added that a team of rat-hole miners, who previously rescued trapped workers in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in 2023, has joined the rescue effort – which has been hindered by muck and debris at the accident site. He explained that rescuing the trapped individuals would take at least three to four days.

“To be honest, the chances of their survival are very, very, very, very remote,” Rao told PTI. “Because, I myself went up to the end, almost just 50 meters short [of the accident site]. When we took photographs, the end [of the tunnel] was visible. And out of the 9-meter diameter [of the tunnel] – almost 30 feet…mud has piled up to 25 feet.”

Rao said that the debris was being cleared with heavy machinery.

A three-metre stretch of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal collapsed on Saturday, injuring about a dozen workers. Over 50 persons were said to have been working at the site with a tunnel-boring machine when the accident ocurred.

The eight individuals trapped in the collapsed tunnel for over 48 hours have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, Gurpreet Singh from Punjab, and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand.

Two of them are engineers, two are operators and four are labourers.

Rao also mentioned that the tunnel-boring machine, weighing several hundred tons, was nearly swept away by gushing water and had moved about 200 meters after the tunnel collapsed.

“Even assuming they [the workers] are in the lower part of the TBM machine, assuming even if it is intact on the top, where is the air? Underneath, how the oxygen will go?” he asked, adding that the rescue teams have pumped air into the tunnel and dewatered it.

“For removing all the debris and all that, in spite of all types of efforts, all types of organisations…I think it takes not less than three to four days [to extricate the workers].”

Rao added that a conveyor belt was being repaired inside the tunnel to assist with debris removal.

Despite efforts by the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force and other agencies, there has been no breakthrough in the rescue operations yet. Later in the day, the Indian Navy’s Marine Commandos also joined the operation with special equipment to trace those trapped inside.