Telangana: Rescue teams find another body inside SLBC tunnel, efforts under way to retrieve it

HYDERABAD: The rescue teams traced another body of a worker in the early hours of Tuesday from the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool which collapsed on February 22 entrapping eight workers. The body is stuck in a difficult position, and the teams are currently making efforts to retrieve it.

According to rescue teams, “Today, in the early morning hours, we found another dead body stuck in a position, and we are currently working to retrieve it.”

The SLBC tunnel accident took place on February 22. Eight workers were trapped in the accident. One of the bodies of trapped workers – Gurpreet Singh was recovered on March 9. The Chief Minister of Telangana Revanth Reddy had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakhs for the kins of the deceased.

Earlier, the Telangana Chief Minister directed officials to expedite rescue operations to locate and bring out the workers trapped inside the SLBC tunnel. The Chief Minister instructed Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a Special Officer to “continuously monitor the rescue operations.”

CM Revanth Reddy reviewed the progress of the ongoing rescue operations in the SLBC tunnel on Monday at Assembly Hall.

Ministers N Uttam N Kumar Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and other top officials participated in the meeting.

State Special Chief Secretary to Disaster Management Arvind Kumar and Colonel Parikshit Mehra briefed the CM about the progress in the ongoing rescue operations at the accident site in the last month.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that 25 agencies including various wings of the Central and State governments as well as private organizations are engaged in the rescue operations.”A total of 700 personnel have been involved in the rescue operations.”

The official said the rescue teams are “removing” the debris of collapsed rocks, dismantling the TBM ( Tunnel Boring Machine) parts and “clearing” soil mounds, silt and seepage water from inside the tunnel. The heads of the rescue teams also made a PowerPoint presentation and explained the present situation and rescue operations in the tunnel.

In the meeting, the top authorities said that rescue operations were “delayed due to poor air and light conditions” as the accident occurred 14 kilometres from the inlet in the tunnel. “30 meters of the accident area has been identified as the most dangerous zone”. (ANI)