Telangana tunnel collapse: Search for trapped workers enters 19th day

Nagarkurnool: The search for seven people trapped inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here continued for the 19th consecutive day on Wednesday, with intensified efforts.

Rescue teams including personnel from NDRF, state-run miner Singareni Collieries, rat miners and other agencies entered the tunnel along with equipment on Wednesday morning in a renewed effort to reach those trapped, official sources said.

A team from a Hyderabad-based robotics company, along with a robot equipped with an AI-based camera, had entered the tunnel on Tuesday morning. Additionally, 110 rescue personnel were deployed.

To minimise risks to rescuers, the Telangana government has decided to expand the use of robots as water and slush inside the tunnel pose significant challenges.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the tunnel on March 2, had suggested that officials use robots inside the tunnel if necessary to ensure the safety of rescue personnel.

As part of efforts to locate the missing individuals, rescue personnel once again deployed Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDD) at the accident site, an official release said.

State Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar, who has been overseeing the search operation, held a meeting on Tuesday with officials from various agencies involved in the rescue efforts.

The search operations continue with rescue teams working at specific locations identified by cadaver dogs and radar surveys.

Rescue personnel, guided by Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys conducted by scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad, are focusing their efforts on suspected locations.

The search is also being supported by HRDDs from the Kerala police.

Rescue teams on March 9 retrieved the body of Gurpreet Singh, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator who worked for a foreign company involved in the tunnel project.

Apart from Gurpreet Singh, the seven others still trapped include Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Sunny Singh (Jammu & Kashmir), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab), and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.

The eight individuals—comprising engineers and labourers—got trapped in the SLBC project tunnel after a portion of it collapsed on February 22.