Hyderabad: The state govt is making another attempt to trace the eight workers trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) since Feb 22 by pressing specially trained army dogs into service.
“Two service dogs were brought in a special Indian Air Force chopper from Kochi to Hyderabad. They were later taken to the SLBC site in another chopper on Thursday afternoon. The dogs have specialised training in detecting humans, even if they are located 10 feet from sub-surface, by smelling the human scent,” Telangana special chief secretary (disaster management) Arvind Kumar told TOI.
The state govt has been trying to locate missing workers and had earlier desilted five locations, which were identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute by using Ground Penetrating Radars. However, no human remains were detected there.
For shifting the silt, the conveyor belt is now fully functional for the entire tunnel length (13.5 km). Two excavators of the Army are also working, officials said. Six water jet sprays have been installed by the State Disaster Response Force and are being used for washing out the silt in the tunnel boring machine and other places.
National Disaster Management Authority advisor (operations and communications), Col KP Singh, arrived on Thursday to oversee the ongoing efforts and the technical teams of Geological survey of India, NGRI and other agencies are working on the prevailing conditions and stability of the tunnel.
