Hyderabad, March 25
More than a month after a portion of the roof of a tunnel collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district trapping eight persons, rescue workers recovered a second body on Tuesday.
The body was brought out of the partially-collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in the afternoon and was shifted to a government hospital at Nagarkurnool. It was identified as that of project engineer Manoj Kumar of Uttar Pradesh.
The body would be handed over to the family of the deceased after the autopsy. Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santosh said the state government would pay Rs 25 lakh to the family of the deceased.
This was the second body recovered from the tunnel since the accident that occurred on February 22.
The body of Gurpreet Singh, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator from Punjab was recovered on March 9.
However, the search for the remaining missing persons was hampered by continuous seepage of water and slush.
Some rescue workers engaged in digging work in the last 50 meters of the 14-km-long tunnel noticed a foul smell from a spot near the loco train track on Tuesday morning and alerted the officials.
Various agencies involved in the rescue operation took up digging around the spot and recovered the body.
Multiple agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), and Anvi Robotics were continuing the operation to trace the remaining six persons.
The missing persons are Sri Niwas (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
The rescue workers continued digging at spots identified by the cadaver dog squad from Kerala. In hazardous areas near TBM, robotic technology is being deployed for safety reasons.
At a review meeting in Hyderabad on Monday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directed the officials to expedite the rescue operations.
He instructed Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a Special Officer to continuously monitor the rescue operations.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that 25 agencies including various wings of the Central and State governments as well as private organisations 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 TBM parts, and clearing soil mounds, silt, and water from the tunnel.
They explained that rescue operations were delayed due to poor air and light conditions as the accident occurred 14 kilometres from the inlet. About 30 metres of the accident area has been identified as the most dangerous zone. The officials also clarified that rescue operations will have to be carried out in the tunnel according to the scientific studies of the Geological Survey of India and the National Geophysical Research Institute.
The Chief Minister asked officials to take all necessary permissions from the Union government for the emergency works to be carried out in the tunnel.
