Rescue efforts to evacuate the eight workers trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in India's Telangana after a partial collapse on Saturday morning have entered their fourth day. 

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Nagarkurnool SP Vaibhav Gaikqad said on Tuesday morning that a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, and rat miners have gone inside the tunnel. 

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"The locomotive is going up to 12 km, but on the next 1.5 km stretch, there is water. We have sent water pumps inside and will clear debris from the railway track so the locomotive reaches the 13.5 km mark," Gaikqad said. 

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Authorities have also reached out to the experts as reports emerged that vertical drilling from the top was ruled out. 

The Nagarkurnool District Collector, B Santhosh, confirmed that experts from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and National Geographical Research Institute (NGRI) are being consulted before any further action is taken. He said that the stability of the tunnel is being thoroughly assessed while dewatering continues. 

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"As of now we are not able to communicate with them (trapped). We are taking the advice of the Geological Survey of India and some other people. As of now, we are dewatering and going forward. But for the last 40 or 50 metres, we are not able to go. As of now, we are taking the advice of GSI and NGRI. L&T experts have also come here," he told the news agency PTI. 

Authorities at ground zero said that the teams were not able to go into the last 50 metres where the eight persons were trapped due to the accumulation of muck and debris. 

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'Government is tirelessly working' 

Bhuvanagiri MP Chamala Kiran Kumar of Congress party told news agency ANI, "The government is tirelessly working to rescue the workers. The Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy are monitoring the situation." 

"The rescue teams are working on removing the debris. We got a call from PM Modi and our leader, Rahul Gandhi, to inquire about this incident. We are deploying all means to rescue the workers stuck in the tunnel," Kumar added. 

(With inputs from agencies)