Hyderabad: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), on Tuesday, February 25, deployed sniffer dogs into service in the rescue mission of the eight workers trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) for the fourth day after the roof collapsed on February 22.
The trained rescue dogs entered the tunnel along with NDRF and SDRF teams to identify and locate the trapped workers.
Earlier, the Telangana government roped in experts from the Geological Survey of India and National Geographical Research Institute besides an Australian part of L&T with vast experience in tunnels and rescue operations to suggest the way forward regarding the rescue.
Dewatering going on: Nagarkurnool collector
Even as the dewatering process is ongoing, Nagarkurnool district collector B Santhosh said the stability of the tunnel is taken into consideration before taking any steps in the rescue operations.
“As of now, we are not able to communicate with them (trapped workers). We are taking the advice of the Geological Survey of India and other people. The dewatering process and going on. However, we are unable to proceed through the last 40 or 50 meters. As of now, we are taking the advice of GSI and NGRI. L& T experts have also come here,” the collector told PTI.
He said the teams were able to reach the last fifty meters where the eight persons were trapped due to the accumulation of muck and debris. Deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and state irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy are expected at the accident spot on Tuesday to oversee the rescue operations and make crucial decisions, sources said.
Rescue mission yet to make breakthrough
Despite relentless efforts by the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, and other agencies, no breakthrough has been achieved so far in the rescue operations as the teams had to navigate through thick muck, tangled iron rods, and cement blocks to reach the accident spot in the tunnel to extricate the persons from partially collapsed tunnel in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district.
A team of 584 skilled personnel from the Army, Navy, Singareni Collieries and other agencies along with central and state disaster response teams, have conducted tunnel inspections seven times, official sources said adding gas cutters to cut the metal rod are continuously working.
Chances of survival ‘very remote’: Minister
Telangana minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Monday said the chances of their survival are “very remote,” and rescuing the trapped individuals would take at least three to four days, as the accident site is filled with muck and debris, making it a daunting task for the rescuers.
He also mentioned that a team of rat miners, who had rescued the construction workers trapped in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has joined the rescue teams to extricate the men.
Jupally said that there was no chance for a machine to enter the tunnel, and the clearing of the debris would have to be done manually in the 100-120 metre distance that needed to be cleared.
“Water is still coming into the tunnel, and if we put our leg, it is going inside the slush. The boring machine was washed away almost 200 metre away. The heap of debris was almost 23 ft high, leaving just 3 metre open,” he told media persons.
He also said that the rescuers had called out the names of the workers possibly stuck in the debris, but no response came.
“We are not sparing any effort. There is no lethargy or lapse. We are hopeful, but the incident is very very serious,” he noted.
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