Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], March 25 (HBTV): The rescue teams traced another body in the early hours of Tuesday inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool, which collapsed on February 22, trapping eight workers. The body is stuck in a difficult position, and efforts are currently underway to retrieve it.

According to rescue teams, ‘Today, in the early morning hours, we found another dead body stuck in a position, and we are currently working to retrieve it.’

The SLBC tunnel accident occurred on February 22, trapping eight workers. One of the trapped workers, Gurpreet Singh, was recovered on March 9. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had announced an ex-gratia of INR 25 lakh for the kin of the deceased.

Earlier, the Chief Minister directed officials to expedite rescue operations to locate and bring out the trapped workers. He instructed Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a Special Officer to ‘continuously monitor the rescue operations.’

CM Revanth Reddy reviewed the progress of the ongoing rescue operations in the SLBC tunnel on Monday at the Assembly Hall. Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, and other top officials participated in the meeting.

State Special Chief Secretary to Disaster Management Arvind Kumar and Colonel Parikshit Mehra briefed the Chief Minister about the progress in the ongoing rescue operations over the past month.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that 25 agencies, including various wings of the central and state governments as well as private organizations, are engaged in the rescue operations. ‘A total of 700 personnel have been involved in the rescue operations,’ they said.

The officials stated that rescue teams are ‘removing debris of collapsed rocks, dismantling the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) parts, and clearing soil mounds, silt, and seepage water from inside the tunnel.’ The heads of the rescue teams also made a PowerPoint presentation explaining the current situation and the ongoing rescue efforts.

During the meeting, top authorities noted that rescue operations were ‘delayed due to poor air and light conditions,’ as the accident occurred 14 kilometres from the tunnel inlet. ‘Thirty meters of the accident area has been identified as the most dangerous zone,’ they added.

(ANI)