Telangana tunnel collapse: Cadaver dogs identify two possible spots for human presence
Nagarkurnool (Telangana): Cadaver dogs deployed inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel in Telangana on Friday identified two possible spots for human presence where the rescue personnel started removing the silt. Eight persons remained trapped inside the tunnel since February 22, after a part of it collapsed.
The cadaver dogs of the Kerala police joined the operation, with the rescue teams taking the canines inside the tunnel on Friday morning. Such dogs are trained to locate missing humans and human bodies.
“The dogs were locating the probable locations where workers could be trapped. They identified two possible spots and teams are removing the silt from these two points,” a senior official said. The cadaver dogs of Kerala police (of the Belgian Malinois breed) can detect smell even from a depth of 15 feet, officials said.
The medical team of NDRF has also gone inside the tunnel to ensure SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) as and when workers are traced, he said.
The team of state-run miner Singareni Collieries Ltd and rat miners went inside the tunnel during the day to work on the identified sites, he said.
A team to explore the possibility of using robots also entered the tunnel on Friday morning and informed officials that it requires a particular method to navigate in view of the presence of boulders. The robotics team is on the job,
they said. The robotics team had earlier gone inside the tunnel on March 4. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the tunnel on March 2, suggested to the officials leading the rescue operation to use robots inside the tunnel if necessary, to avoid any danger to the rescue personnel. The National Centre for Seismology (NCS), Delhi, the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Hyderabad were working above the ground on the tunnel
location and the NCS team identified the locations where their instruments need to be installed to carry out seismic-related study, they said.
The officials also said removal of metal from the damaged Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) was in full swing.
State Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar has been supervising the rescue operation involving multiple organisations. 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.
The rescue operation has been going on amid challenging conditions, including slush and seepage of water.
