Tue Feb 25 05:20:00 UTC 2025: ## Hope Fades in Telangana Tunnel Collapse Rescue

**Nagarkurnool, Telangana, India** – Rescue efforts for eight workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district entered their fourth day on Tuesday with dwindling hope. Heavy excavation has been temporarily halted due to increasing amounts of slush and mud, raising concerns about structural instability and the safety of both the trapped workers and rescue teams.

Experts, including Australian tunnel specialist Chris Cooper, have warned that the unstable conditions make further heavy digging extremely risky. A significant amount of water continues to flood the tunnel (3,200 liters per minute), compounding the problem by mixing with debris to create more mud and slush. While de-watering efforts are underway, the increasing instability remains a major obstacle.

Rescuers have yet to make contact with the trapped men – two engineers, two operators, and four laborers – since the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapsed on Saturday. They have been identified as Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu, and Anuj Sahu (all from Jharkhand), Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas (from Uttar Pradesh), Sunny Singh (from Jammu and Kashmir), and Gurpreet Singh (from Punjab).

Telangana Minister Jupally Krishna Rao grimly assessed the chances of survival as “very, very, very, very remote,” citing the immense amount of mud that has filled the tunnel and the lack of any response to calls. He stated that the mud has piled up to 25 feet out of a 30-foot diameter tunnel.

A team of rat miners, renowned for their successful rescue operation at the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has joined the rescue effort. However, the challenging conditions continue to hamper progress, casting a long shadow over the hopes for a successful rescue.

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