India, Feb. 23 -- Rescuers are yet to make contact with eight persons trapped inside an under-construction tunnel in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana after a portion of its roof collapsed on Saturday.

"As of now, we don't have communication with them (those trapped)," Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh was quoted as saying by PTI. "The rescuers will go inside and see, and then we will be able to tell."

The eight persons are trapped around 14 km inside the tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project.

According to officials, 51 workers were carrying out excavation work through a hill, about 120 km from Hyderabad, when a part of the tunnel's roof caved in at around 8.30 am. Most of the workers escaped but some, in...