Telangana tunnel collapse: Robots join search operation

Robots on Tuesday joined the operation to locate the seven persons who remain trapped inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here since February 22.

The team of a Hyderabad-based robotics company along with a robot went inside the tunnel Tuesday morning. 110 rescue personnel also went into the tunnel.

The Telangana government has decided to deploy robots to avoid any danger to the rescue personnel as the conditions inside the tunnel, including water and slush, posed a challenge.

State irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on March 8 said the government would spend Rs four crores to undertake the operation by utilizing the services of robot experts (of the Hyderabad-based private company).

Fragments of the huge Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) got submerged under water, soil and stones inside the tunnel caused hazard to the rescue team, he had said.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the tunnel on March 2, suggested to the officials leading the operation to use robots inside the tunnel if necessary, to avoid any danger to the rescue personnel.

The search operations have been continuing with teams from NDRF, state-run miner Singareni Collieries, rat miners and others working at specific spots indicated by cadaver dogs and radar survey to locate the seven persons.

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

The search was further aided by Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDD) of Kerala police.

Two days ago, the rescue personnel recovered the dead body of Gurpreet Singh, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator who worked for a foreign company involved in tunnel works.

The body was sent to his native place in Punjab in a hearse van.

The Telangana government has provided an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh to his family.

Apart from Gurpreet Singh, seven others trapped include Manoj Kumar (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.

The eight persons—engineers and labourers—got trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel after a portion of it collapsed on February 22.