Rescuers close to find second missing worker in SLBC tunnel
Destroyed TBM parts cleared, way paved for faster silt removal
HYDERABAD: The search and rescue operations for seven workers still missing 18 days after the disaster hit the SLBC tunnel in Nagarkurnool district, on Tuesday received some high-technology help in the form of robots which, officials hope, will reach extremely critical zones in the collapse side and obviate the need for a human effort to reach there.
As on Tuesday evening, rescuers were continuing their search for the seven missing workers. On Sunday, the body of Gurpreet Singh from Punjab, was retrieved and sent to his family in Punjab.
“Today we managed to clear the debris of the TBM that was thrown back when the collapse occurred and now the excavator can reach to the rear end of the machine. This has opened up the space for the excavator to desilt the area up to the TBM much faster,” special chief secretary, disaster relief, Arvind Kumar, supervising the rescue operations at the tunnel site, said on Tuesday.
He also said the two human remains detection dogs of the Kerala police, Maya and Murphy, were taken into the tunnel by their handlers for the third time on Tuesday. “They are able to broadly indicate where the bodies of the missing persons might be. This is because of the water flowing into the tunnel and carrying the smell of the bodies. Had the conditions been dry, they would have been able to pinpoint the location of the missing persons,” he said.
The rescuers are hopeful that they will be able to retrieve at least one more body on Wednesday where digging through 12 feet of silt has been completed. Before reaching the body, the rescuers will have to cut through the thick second tier steel platform of the TBM and this part of the work is expected to be completed by Wednesday afternoon.
While all the digging and the search the rest of the missing workers, in the spots indicated by sniffer dogs, was being done manually by specialist rescuers from Singareni Collieries, and members of the rat miners team, from Wednesday, an autonomous rover with the ability to dig will be deployed.
According to Vijay Jagadam of Anvirobotics, they set up a communications network to operate the robots on Tuesday, and two communication robot units to transmit real time data to a control room outside at the tunnel inlet site have been set up. “Tomorrow (Wednesday), a sludge robot, an autonomous rover which can dig deep, and can reach depths of up to 15 to 20 metres will be deployed. It has cameras and sensors which can help find the persons buried in the silt. It will start its work at a location where sniffer dogs indicated some of the workers may be buried,” he said.
This robot, Arvind Kumar said, would explore and search for the missing workers in the last 50 metres of the tunnel, which Geological Survey of India scientists had to be approached with great caution as conditions there can turn unstable very quickly. Once it is certain that the robot can do its job, then the final 50 metres with silt piled up anywhere between 5 and 9 metres, will become more accessible, while ensuring safety of the rescuers.
