disaster
Telangana tunnel collapse: Rescue teams re-draw strategy

Hyderabad, Feb 25: Rescue teams involved in the intensive operation to pull out eight persons trapped in an under-construction tunnel which collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district for three days are re-drawing the strategy to move forward in the last stretch of 40-50 metres.
Facing several hurdles, the authorities have roped in experts from the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the National Geographical Research Institute (NGRI), and the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) to assess the situation and suggest the way forward for rescue operations.
Multiple teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and various agencies are moving cautiously as the stability of the tunnel has to be taken into consideration while undertaking any excavation work.
While continuing dewatering, the rescue teams were waiting for the experts to suggest the next step.
Various agencies including the Army, Navy, SDRF, National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation, and Singareni Collieries Company Limited have mapped out the tunnel operation. They prepared a detailed diagram to help prepare a rescue strategy to locate and reach eight trapped men.
Officials said the conveyor belt used to bring back debris from the tunnel after excavation was not working.
Minister for Roads and Buildings Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the efforts were on to repair the belt.
Deployment of advanced equipment like endoscopic and robotic cameras to trace the trapped men has not yielded results. According to officials, the robotic camera is not working.
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) broke into two after a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed on the morning of February 22.
The tail unit of TBM was found 50 metres before the end of the 14 km long tunnel. The head portion of the tunnel has a safe container for workers to take shelter in an emergency. It was not known if the trapped men could enter the container when the roof collapsed and water seepage became intensive.
The drone was also not accessible after the TBM tail unit. The 50-metre area is filled with sediments and debris hampering further movement of the rescue teams for the last 24 hours.
The tunnel map prepared by the rescue teams shows that the loco track is accessible up to 12 km though the track is available for a length of 13.5 km.
There is no water stagnation in the tunnel till 10.7 km point. The teams found 1.5 feet water at 10.95 km There is 2 to 2.5 feet water at 11.30 km.
The NDRF team has also deployed a trained sniffer dog for the rescue operation but the same could not be pressed into service due to slush.
A team of expert rat miners, known for a successful rescue operation in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has arrived, but their services have not yet been used. In Uttarakhand, the team rescued 41 workers who were trapped inside the tunnel for 17 days.
The team members, however, said that the situation in Telangana is different. In the Uttarakhand tunnel, it was rock and they used hand tools to reach trapped workers through small pits. However, the SLBC tunnel is filled with water and mud.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Tourism Minister Jupally visited the tunnel and reviewed the rescue operations with various agencies.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said he invited Harpal Singh, former engineer-in-chief of Border Road Organisation to share his expertise and knowledge for the rescue operation. The minister quoted Harpal Singh as saying he had never seen such a complicated tunnel accident.
Two workers were injured and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel being dug as part of SLBC collapsed near Domalapenta.
A total of 50 persons were working on the left-side tunnel when the roof collapsed for three metres. The accident occurred at the 14th km point.
While 42 workers came out of the tunnel, the remaining eight were trapped. Those trapped include two engineers and two machine operators.
The trapped men are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
Project manager Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Machine engineer Srinivas (Uttar Pradesh) and machine operators Sunny Singh (J&K) and Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) are among those trapped.
The four workers from Jharkhand are Sandeep Sahu, Santosh Sahu, Anju Sahu and Jagta Khes.
disaster
US: Three killed in severe storms in Oklahoma

Houston, April 21: Three people were killed as heavy storms hit the central US state of Oklahoma over the weekend, authorities said.
A 12-year-old boy and his mother died in Moore, about 10 miles (about 16 km) south of Oklahoma City, on Sunday after floodwaters washed away their vehicle, said local police.
“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city,” Moore police said in a statement.
Another person was killed on Saturday night after a tornado hit Spaulding, a town in Hughes County, the county wrote on Facebook, Xinhua news agency reported.
Several homes and structures were destroyed, and there were “numerous washouts” of county roads, it said.
On April 20, the National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings across several states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Louisiana. According to AccuWeather, regions of Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois faced a high risk of severe thunderstorms.
The Storm Prediction Centre warned that strong, damaging winds, hail, and thunderstorms were likely to persist throughout the night. Severe weather was expected to continue across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, extending into the Ozark Mountains and the mid-Mississippi Valley.
By late evening, local news outlets in Arkansas and Montana confirmed at least two tornado touchdowns. In Illinois, the National Weather Service issued alerts for severe storms capable of producing tornadoes.
Around 9 p.m. local time, a tornado was detected east of East Moline, a city in northwestern Illinois that’s part of the Quad Cities. At the time, no injuries or damages were reported.
Looking ahead, forecasters predicted ongoing showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of a front stretching from the Great Lakes down through the Tennessee and Lower Mississippi Valleys to the Gulf Coast on Monday. While heavy rainfall could lead to flooding, the severe weather threat was expected to diminish throughout the day.
disaster
Strong 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan; tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, J&K

New Delhi, April 19: A powerful earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale struck Afghanistan on Saturday afternoon at 12:17 pm IST, as reported by the National Center for Seismology (NCS).
The quake’s epicentre was located at 36.10 degrees North latitude and 71.20 degrees East longitude, with a depth of 130 kilometres. Tremors from the earthquake were felt across several northern regions of India, including Jammu & Kashmir and the Delhi-NCR area.
While there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries, authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation.
The NCS confirmed the seismic activity via a post on social media platform X.
“EQ of M: 5.8, On: 19/04/2025 12:17:53 IST, Lat: 36.10 N, Long: 71.20 E, Depth: 130 Km, Location: Afghanistan,” NCS said in a post on X.
This event follows a similar tremor that occurred earlier in the week. On Wednesday, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Afghanistan, with its epicentre approximately 164 km east of Baghlan.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) initially reported the quake as 6.4 in magnitude but later revised it to 5.6.
In a related development, the Kishtwar region of Jammu & Kashmir also experienced a mild earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale on Wednesday morning around 5:14 AM IST.
The tremor occurred at a shallow depth of 5 kilometres.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) highlights that Afghanistan is extremely susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and seasonal floods.
UNOCHA also pointed out that the frequent seismic activity in the region severely impacts already fragile communities, which have endured years of conflict and underdevelopment.
These conditions have significantly weakened their capacity to handle multiple crises at once. According to the Red Cross, Afghanistan has a long history of experiencing powerful earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush region, which is known for its intense geological activity and frequent tremors.
The country lies along several major fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. One of these fault lines passes directly through Herat, increasing the area’s risk of seismic events.
disaster
4 dead, 12 feared trapped in Delhi’s Mustafabad building collapse: NDRF (LD)

New Delhi, April 19: At least four people have died and around 12 are feared trapped after a four-storey building collapsed in the Mustafabad area of Delhi in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.
The incident occurred around 3 a.m., following intense overnight rainfall and thunderstorms that hit several parts of the city.
Sandeep Lamba, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East District), said, “Four among the 14 rescued succumbed to their injuries… The building was four floor high. Rescue operations are ongoing, and eight to ten people are still feared trapped.”
Providing an update from the ground, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official Mohan Shaheedi said, “Around 12 people are feared trapped under the debris, including 9 adults and 3 children. According to information from local sources, 6 people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital. Two NDRF teams are present at the site, supported by Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, and volunteers.”
He added, “Authorities are identifying cavities and possible locations under the debris where survivors may be trapped. Technical searches are underway using rescue dogs to detect any signs of life. If any indication is found, special focus is given to that area. The operation is highly challenging and is being carried out with the utmost care.”
Teams from the NDRF, Delhi Police, Fire Services, and local volunteers continue to work tirelessly at the site.
The area has been sealed off as the rescue operation enters a critical phase. The exact cause of the collapse will be investigated once the rescue efforts conclude. Rescue operations are underway.
The house collapse incident occurred just hours after a sudden shift in Delhi’s weather on Friday night when heavy rainfall and thunderstorms lashed several parts of the city.
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