Rescue work in progress in the SLBC tunnel near Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district on Friday.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
HYDERABAD
To speed up tracing of the remaining seven persons trapped under the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel since February 22, the authorities heading the rescue operation have asked the agencies involved to complete the excavation work between D1 and D2 points by Saturday morning.
It would allow the rescue personnel, particularly those belonging to the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Singareni miners, Rathole miners, technicians from the South Central Railway, HYDRAA and Army, to focus on muck removal using excavators.
The debris excavated between D1 and D2 points was being continuously loaded onto the conveyor belt and water jets were being used to expose the buried metal components, which were being shifted out of the tunnel with the help of loco-trolleys after being cut into pieces.
Officials stated that locomotive track was not accessible till 13.600 km inside the tunnel from the mouth after complete clearing of debris till that point. The conveyor belt too is available till that distance (13.600 km) now.
Focus was also being laid on cutting of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) into parts, shifting them outside the tunnel and dewatering the tunnel continuously to ensure safety of the rescue personnel.
Review meeting
A review meeting was held at the tunnel site with District Collector Santosh Badavath, Col. Parikshit Mehra, Vikas Singh, Dr. Harish, team leaders of Singareni and Rathole miners, SCR, ANVI Robotics, cadaver sniffer dog squad from Kerala and others. Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar reviewed the progress virtually from Hyderabad.
Published – March 21, 2025 08:44 PM is
