Hyderabad: A few hours after the second worker’s body was found in the SLBC tunnel on Tuesday, March 25, he was identified as Manoj Kumar from Uttar Pradesh.
Some rescue workers engaged in digging work in the last 50 meters of the 14-km-long tunnel noticed a foul smell from a spot near the loco track and alerted the officials. The agencies were now focussing their efforts on the spot which is said to be outside D1 and D2, where the missing workers were suspected to be buried under the rubble.
The body was found approximately 50 meters away from the conveyor belt during excavation efforts using a mini excavator.
Search operations continued as teams focused on locating six other missing workers.
On March 9, the body of a worker identified as Gurpreet Singh was recovered and handed over to his family in Punjab.
About SLBC tunnel collapse
On February 22, a portion of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool collapsed, locking eight workers, including two engineers, inside the debris and slush.
Eight persons–engineers and labourers have been trapped under the collapsed roof of the SLBC tunnel since February 22. The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar (UP), Sri Niwas (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
The previous day, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy and the state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed hope that the damaged conveyor belt would be repaired by Monday. He inspected the rescue operations at the SLBC tunnel roof collapse area and said, “Officials say it will take another two to three days to resolve the issue. They have not yet come to a complete assessment of where the eight trapped workers are and where the conveyor belt was damaged.”
Terming the accident as unfortunate and unexpected, CM Revanth appealed to the opposition parties not to politicise the issue and unite to work together. “This is a disaster. The state government is determined to solve this problem. However, be it the government or the opposition… this is the time to show empathy to the affected families and support them,” he said.
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