Telangana SLBC tunnel collapse: Breakthrough likely as rescue teams deploy Rat, Singareni miners to trace two of eight trapped persons

Rescue agencies continue search for trapped persons in Srisailam tunnel, facing challenges in debris-filled area.

The rescue agencies involved in tracing the eight persons trapped under the debris 14 km inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel since February 22 morning are expected to achieve some breakthrough on the 16th day of the operation on Sunday with one body located under the debris on Saturday night.

Robots to be deployed in SLBC tunnel rescue operation to find missing persons from March 11

The rat miners from Uttarakhand and miners from Singareni Collieries have taken up digging at a couple of points identified by the cadaver sniffer dogs. They are required to dig for four-feet deep at one of the points where one body is located, officials heading the rescue operation said on Sunday.

According to sources in the Irrigation Department, the sniffer dogs have smelled something under the debris at around 100 meters backwards from the rock-end point of the tunnel excavated so far on Saturday evening and after a meeting among the rescue agencies, they have taken up digging work with high-level precautions since the work is described as highly risky and challenging.

The technicians from the South Central Railway (SCR) have cut into pieces the damaged parts of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) for over 60 meters of the total length of 132.5 meters of the TBM, paving the way for rescue agencies to take up the process for tracing the trapped persons in that area. As the area is still filled with some mud and seepage water continues to come out, the rescue personnel are treading the path carefully.

Sources stated that the agencies have deployed the third mini-excavator or earthmover on Sunday to speed up the work to trace human remains at the two specific points identified by the sniffer dogs from Kerala. They were not sure whether the spots identified have the human remains or not as digging taken up at another pointed identified by the sniffer dogs has found some other degradable material and not any human remains.

The ground probing radar (GPR) scanning done by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has also identified eight spots and digging there is yet to be taken up. Digging taken up at about four such locations by NGRI last week has found no human remains.