On the 16th day of the search for the eight men trapped in a collapsed tunnel in Telangana, rescuers on Sunday recovered the body of one of them.
He was identified as Gurpreet Singh from Tarn Taran in Punjab. Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh to his family.
The eight men had been trapped since the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool partially collapsed on February 22.
On Sunday, Gurpreet’s body was found near the broken tunnel boring machine that was being used to excavate the tunnel. Two people were operating the machine and six were helping them when the roof of the tunnel caved in.
Nagarkurnool SP Vaibhav Gaikwad said the body was recovered from a spot located by the Kerala Police’s Belgian malinois dogs.
He expressed hope that more bodies would be recovered soon. “We have still not started digging the last 50 metres to rock end due to the risk involved, “ the SP told The Indian Express.
Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar said the body was buried under 10 feet of silt.
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“The role of SCCL (Singareni Collieries Company Limited), rat-hole miners, and the National Disaster Response Force (in the search operation) is especially appreciated,” he said.
Since the day of the tunnel collapse, 11 teams of rescuers have been trying to find the trapped men. More than 300 personnel of the NDRF, State Disaster Response Force and the Army had been deployed at the site.
However, the accumulation of sludge and debris from the collapse, as well as water seeping into the tunnel, have made the rescue efforts arduous and time-consuming.
On Monday, the search team employed robots and cadaver dogs to identify the location of the trapped men at the site.
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The eight trapped men were Sunny Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Manoj Kumar, Srinivas, Sandeep Sahu, Santosh Sahu, Anuj Sahu and Jagath Khes.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
