Workers carry steel bars to temporarily reinforce the tunnel ceiling in Đèo Cả Tunnel. VNA/VNS Photo Đặng Tuấn

KHÁNH HÒA — After a landslide inside a railway tunnel on Friday, a senior executive has revealed it is difficult to predict when train services will resume.

Lê Quang Vinh, director of the Phú Khánh Railway Operation Branch, has stated that it's currently impractical to predict when trains will operate through the Đèo Cả railway tunnel in Đại Lãnh Commune, Vạn Ninh District in the southern province of Khánh Hòa.

Around noon on Friday, about 100 cubic metres of rocks from the ceiling of the Đèo Cả Tunnel collapsed onto the tracks, completely blocking the tunnel entrance and halting the North-South railway section passing through Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa provinces.

After the landslide incident, forces and hundreds of workers made efforts to clear the landslide debris and temporarily reinforce the tunnel ceiling with concrete to reopen the tunnel as soon as possible.

Steel bars were transported into the tunnel for reinforcement. Many workers used various means such as excavators and towing vehicles to transport soil and rocks out of the tunnel.

However, during the landslide incident handling process on Saturday night, about 40 cubic metres of soil and rocks continued to fall, causing the entire reinforced tunnel ceiling to collapse, posing difficulties for the resolution work.

Vinh said that currently, workers are still removing soil and rocks from the tunnel. At the landslide point, soil and rocks continue to fall, and numerous cracks appear on the tunnel.

The authorities have not yet determined the time for the tunnel to reopen.

Vinh added that the ground layer above the tunnel has been weathered for many years and is now breaking apart, leading to landslides occurring at any time.

A worker inside the tunnel said that throughout Friday night, workers made efforts to clear soil and rocks to reopen the tunnel by Saturday morning. However, after completing the repairs, the soil and rock continued to fall, causing the reinforcement system to collapse.

Currently, workers are urgently dealing with the situation.

Since the landslide incident occurred, the railway sector has had to implement shuttle transfers using passenger buses for nearly 3,000 passengers on ten trains on the North-South route and vice versa when trains arrive at stations near the incident site.

The Khánh Hòa Province Traffic Police Department has mobilised dozens of officers and soldiers to be on duty around the clock at two checkpoints at the foot and top of Đèo Cả Tunnel to divert traffic.

Currently, there are still eight passenger trains that have to stop at stations along the route near the landslide area. Over 1,700 passengers on these trains have been transferred by road through the landslide site to continue their journey. — VNS