Radar detects 4 trapped inside tunnel in Telangana
In a breakthrough in the tunnel collapse rescue operation in Telangana that has been going on for a week, the whereabouts of four of the eight persons trapped have been traced, state Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said on Saturday.
Rao, who attended a meeting with officials involved in the rescue operation along with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said there was a lot of progress during the past couple of days.
“In my view, the whereabouts of four persons have been traced through a radar,” he told reporters at the tunnel. He expressed the hope that they would be extricated by Sunday evening.
The other four appear to have been stuck beneath the tunnel boring machine (TBM), he said.
Asked about the condition of the four whose whereabouts had been traced, the minister recalled he had said on the first day itself that the chances of survival were remote.
The 450 foot-tall TBM was being cut, he said. Personnel of 11 agencies were involved in the operation.
Referring to criticism by opposition parties that the operation was getting delayed, Rao said those involved in the endeavour were experts but the rescue work was complex in view of the conditions, including slush, inside the tunnel.
Eight persons — engineers and labourers — have been trapped under the collapsed roof of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel since February 22. The rescue operations are on in full swing to pull them out to safety.
