Rescuers remove six feet of silt in SLBC tunnel collapse; officials deploy robots to aid in final stretch of high-risk recovery efforts
DOMALAPENTA: Fifteen days after the February 22 accident in the SLBC tunnel in which eight workers went missing, rescuers on Saturday night prepared to commence the second phase of their digging at a spot after removing six feet of silt. This was one of the three spots where the two human remains detection dogs of the Kerala police had indicated the presence of people under rocks, and silt.
This spot, as well as the others indicated by the dogs, were on the rock fall debris that buried the tunnel boring machine (TBM) on which the workers were working when the roof of the tunnel caved in.
After digging six feet, rescuers came to the TBM’s top level floor as well as a ladder. These are being cut through. Once this blockage is out of the way, rescuers will get back to digging. “By Sunday morning, we hope to dig another four feet and are hopeful we can find something,” special chief secretary, disaster relief, Arvind Kumar said.
Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy who reached the tunnel site in Domalapenta of Nagarkurnool district, reviewed the rescue efforts, and thanked all the rescue teams from different agencies for the round-the-clock work they had been putting in. While advocating the safety of rescuers as a top priority, Uttam Kumar Reddy called for accelerating the rescue efforts in the safest way possible.
Telangana irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy with Col Parikshit Mehra from the Border Roads Organisation in the SLBC tunnel on Saturday
He said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy may visit the site on March 11 for an assessment and review, or alternately, chair a meeting in Hyderabad with leaders of the dozen rescue agencies. The government will provide full support to the families of the missing workers, he added.
After a briefing from Anvi Robotics on how it might be able to assist in the efforts, the minister said they can join the rescue. The firm, with plans to assist in safe and fast silt removal, is expected to join the work in the next couple of days.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the incident “is a national disaster,” and that an accident of this magnitude had never occurred in the country. The state government was using the best technology to overcome the challenges in the final stretch – which rescue workers are able to access a little more freely, in the 14-km-long tunnel, he said.
The minister told reporters that rescue teams had managed to advance up to 13.95 km inside the tunnel, but the final 50 metres remained highly unstable, posing severe risks due to oxygen depletion, excessive water seepage, and metal fragments from the TBM. Given these hazards, robots will be deployed to assess conditions and assist in extraction.
