Telangana tunnel rescue: Dogs trained to pick scent of human remains to be sent inside

Cadaver dogs will be deployed inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here on Sunday to search for human presence as the rescue operation to save eight trapped persons entered its 16th day.

The dogs first joined the rescue efforts on March 7, when they were taken inside the tunnel.

The canines, specially trained to detect human remains, would be taken into the tunnel on Sunday, said a police official.

Rescue teams will dig beyond five feet at two points identified by Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDDs), as workers may be trapped in the second layer of the dismantled tunnel boring machine (TBM), according to a senior official on Saturday.

The Kerala police's Belgian Malinois breed dogs are capable of detecting scent from a depth of up to 15 feet.

The Telangana Government has decided to deploy robots for the rescue operation from March 11 to ensure the safety of rescue personnel, as the challenging conditions inside the tunnel, including water and slush, pose significant risks.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has submitted an initial report in which, among other things, it has cautioned that rescue operations should be carried out with extreme caution and care in the last 70 metres (at the accident site), the official said.

As the fragments of the huge TBM got submerged under water, soil and stones inside the tunnel, they caused a hazard to the rescue team.

The rescue operation has been going on amid challenging conditions, including muck and seepage of water.

Eight persons -- engineers and labourers -- have been trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel since February 22 and experts from the NDRF, Indian Army, Navy and other agencies are making relentless efforts to pull them out to safety.