As search operations for the trapped workers in the under-construction Telangana tunnel collapse incident rolled on to the sixteenth day, a body of a worker was pulled out on Sunday in a decomposed state from the SLBC tunnel. The body was found stuck in the machine with only one hand visible, the rescue team said.
The deceased has been identified as Gurpreet Singh from Punjab. “The digging was done up to 10 meters. His hand was seen last night and it took about 16 hours of effort to bring his body out,” a rescue worker said.
The body of the labourer will be handed over to his family after a post-mortem soon. It has been shifted to the PME at Nagarkurnool General Hospital
Cadaver dogs deployed to find workers
Earlier, the state had government deployed cadaver dogs of Kerala police to look for human presence and the rescue personnel carried out digging at the spots suggested by the canines. The Kerala police’s Belgian Malinois breed dogs are capable of detecting scent from a depth of up to 15 feet.
The Telangana government has decided to deploy robots for the rescue operation from March 11 to ensure the safety of rescue personnel, as the challenging conditions inside the tunnel, including water and slush, pose significant risks.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has submitted an initial report in which, among other things, it has cautioned that rescue operations should be carried out with extreme caution and care in the last 70 metres (at the accident site), the official said.
As the fragments of the huge TBM got submerged under water, soil and stones inside the tunnel, they caused a hazard to the rescue team.