Seven labourers were rescued while two others were still trapped after an under-construction tunnel caved in at Sleemanabad in Madhya Pradesh's Katni district, officials said on Sunday.

The tunnel of the Bargi canal project had caved in late Saturday night, trapping nine labourers.

Seven of them were so far pulled out from the debris, Madhya Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajesh Rajora told PTI.

The State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) team and other personnel were making all efforts to rescue the other two trapped workers, said Rajora, who was monitoring the rescue operation from Bhopal.

The trapped labourers were responding to calls from rescue personnel, Sleemanabad Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sangh Mitra Gautam said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to Katni collector and the superintendent of police about the incident.

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

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 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.