MP: Under-construction tunnel caves in, labourers trapped

Bhopal: An under-construction tunnel of the Bargi canal project caved in at Sleemanabad in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh, trapping nine labourers, a senior official said on Saturday.

Among the trapped labourers, three were safely rescued. The rescue operation was underway to rescue the remaining labourers with the help of a State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) team which arrived from Jabalpur, Katni collector Priyank M said.

Madhya Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajesh Rajora monitored the rescue operation from the state secretariat.

The incident took place late in the evening, an official said.

”All six labourers are alive and the SDERF team with the necessary equipment is trying to reach them by digging a shaft. The district collector and the SP are camping at the site to supervise the rescue operation,” Rajora told PTI.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to the district collector and the superintendent of police (SP) over the incident.

Chouhan directed officials to make arrangements for providing treatment to the injured labourers, the official said.