Telangana tunnel collapse: Trained cadaver dogs from Kerala aid search and rescue ops

Hyderabad: Even as rescue teams, comprising 15 different agencies, have been putting in relentless efforts for the past 17 days, two cadaver dogs specially flown in from Kerala have been instrumental in the search operations for workers trapped in the SLBC tunnel in Telangana.

These two dogs—Maya and Murphy—belonging to Kerala Police's K-9 squad identified the exact location of a body buried almost 10 feet under silt and mud, after which rat miners and other rescue personnel dug at the location and recovered the body of TBM operator Gurupreet Singh from Punjab on Sunday.

Digging continues at another location close to where these Belgian Malinois, known for their exceptional search abilities, detected remains. Rescue teams told DH that Maya and Murphy, also known as Human Remains Detection (HRD) dogs, are part of the Ernakulam police unit and were trained at the Thrissur academy.

They are specially trained to detect the scent of decomposing bodies, whether buried or submerged. Maya and Murphy have served with the Kerala police for the past five years and have participated in several major operations, including the Wayanad landslide disaster last year in which more than 200 people were killed.

While Maya is female, Murphy is male. They were brought to Hyderabad around March 7 in a military aircraft and from there the canines were moved to the tunnel location in a special chopper. The dogs were first acclimatized to the local conditions. Before initiating the actual search, their handlers, Havildar Prabhath and George Manuel, assessed the surface and tunnel conditions to ensure the dogs' safety and effectiveness.

"These dogs were of great help to our teams. They could pinpoint certain locations after which digging was done. At the same spot on Saturday we noticed a body and it was recovered on Sunday. We are expecting some progress in the next few days with the help of these canines," a member of the SLBC tunnel rescue team told DH.

The excavation at the second site identified by the dogs has proven challenging due to the unstable conditions within the tunnel. The presence of metal debris, slush, and lack of oxygen has made the rescue efforts arduous. The rescue teams have also deployed advanced robotic technology to aid in the excavation process.