Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
At least six workers were feared trapped after the roof of a tunnel under construction collapsed on Saturday in the southern Indian state of Telangana, officials said.
The incident occurred at a stretch of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) – an irrigation project – in Nagarkurnool district of the state, some 200km from capital Hyderabad.
Dozens of workers managed to escape as the tunnel collapsed but six to eight people were feared trapped, reports said. A rescue mission has been launched to bring them out to safety. Chief minister A Revanth Reddy directed government officials and the police in Nagarkurnool district to reach the place of accident to carry out relief measures, a statement from his office said.
“In particular, at the 14km point, the roof of the left-side tunnel collapsed for 3m. This happened when employees were performing their duties at the site,” said an official statement.
“On the orders of the chief minister, irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, irrigation advisor Adityanath Das and irrigation officials left for the accident site in a special helicopter,” the statement said.
The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) criticised the government and said it should take full responsibility for the incident. BRS leader KT Rama Rao posted on X: “Such incidents are happening due to the collusion with contractors, the evasion of supervision in the hunt for commissions, and the complete compromise on quality standards.”
B Santosh, a senior government official, said there has been no contact with those trapped, the internal communication mechanism has failed, and the air chamber and conveyor belt have both collapsed, according to NDTV.
In 2023, 41 workers were rescued from an under-construction tunnel that collapsed in India‘s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The rescue mission was expected to last only a few days. Instead, it took 17 days to reach the workers and is considered the most significant and complicated rescue operations in India’s recent history – aided by international tunnelling experts and spearheaded by multiple rescue agencies.
