China tunnel flood: Desperate search to find trapped workers
Quote:
A rescue mission is under way to save 14 workers trapped in a flooded tunnel being built in southern China.
Teams are pumping water out of the highway tunnel to find the workers who were caught when it collapsed in the early hours of Thursday.
Hundreds of rescuers, along with 22 fire trucks and five pumping stations, are trying to locate the workers.
Investigators are trying to discover what caused the flooding at the tunnel in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
Construction workers heard strange noises about 1km (0.6 miles) inside the tunnel, officials say.
An evacuation was ordered at around at 03:30 local time (19:30 GMT on Wednesday), but water began gushing into the tunnel and 14 of the workers could not make it out.
"We feel deeply guilty and deeply blame ourselves," said Yan Dawu, deputy general manager of the construction company.
The area where they were working is under a reservoir, according to reports.
The local fire department has dispatched 19 vehicles and 100 people to take part in the rescue effort, and crews have arrived from other areas, China's Global Times reported.
A rescue headquarters has been set up at the site, local media say.
In March, two workers were killed in the same tunnel when a wall caved in and they were struck by falling stones.
The Xingye Highway Express Line is a highway that runs north to south through Zhuhai city, according to local media.
China tunnel flood: Desperate search to find trapped workers - BBC News
Flooded Tunnels Trapped Workers Still Unreachable
Quote:
The 14 construction workers who were trapped when the tunnel they were working on in southern China suddenly flooded early Thursday morning still cannot be reached, officials said at a press conference Friday afternoon.
The tunnel, located in Guangdong province’s Zhuhai, is part of the Xingye Highway that will connect with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Water suddenly rushed into the tunnel at around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. The group of workers were about 1.1 kilometers from the tunnel entrance, and could not evacuate in time, officials said. The workers have not been in contact with the outside world since.
A rescue team of over 1,000 people are trying to reach the trapped workers, but their efforts have been hampered by the strong flow of water entering the tunnel. Aided by pump vehicles on site, the water level in the tunnel is dropping. By Friday noon, the rescue team had advanced to a point about 750 meters away from the trapped workers.
The tunnel passes through the Jida reservoir, which on Thursday was ordered to release water. The local agriculture and water authority warned residents to stay away from a nearby river and drainage channels.
According to a local media report from 2019, the tunnel’s trajectory through the water reservoir required cutting-edge construction methods and technologies, including high-standard anti-water leakage measures. Experts reportedly called the project “a museum of tunnel construction.”
In March, two workers died when another section of the tunnel collapsed, according to a document from the local emergency management department.
It is the second construction-related accident in China this week. On Monday, a hotel where renovation work was reportedly ongoing collapsed in Suzhou, eastern China, killing 17 people.
Flooded Tunnel’s Trapped Workers Still Unreachable
Fingers crossed but it doesn't look good.
