Nagarkurnool: The Telangana government on Saturday decided to deploy robots from March 11 for rescue operations inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel and also to take the cadaver dogs again to look for presence of humans. Eight persons remained trapped inside the tunnel since February 22, after a part of it collapsed. The government has decided to deploy robots to avoid any danger to the rescue personnel as the conditions inside the tunnel, including water and slush, posed a challenge.
“The usage of bots for the last 70 mtrs (at the accident site) was discussed with (concerned) agency and robots will be placed and tried from Tuesday onwards, in addition to all the efforts which are being undertaken now,” a senior official told PTI. 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, he said.
Digging would be taken up beyond five feet at the two points identified by HRDDs (human remains detection dogs) as workers are possibly trapped in the second layer of the now dismantled tunnel boring machine (TBM), he said. The HRDDs would be taken inside the tunnel on Sunday, he said. The canines joined the rescue operation March 7 when they were taken into the tunnel.
The regular operation of dewatering and desiltation by all the agencies would continue, the official added. State Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who visited the tunnel site and reviewed the ongoing rescue operation with officials of different organisations, directed authorities to take immediate steps to deploy robots for rescue work as fragments of the damaged TBM posed a danger to the rescue personnel.
The minister said the government would spend Rs 4 crore to undertake the rescue work by utilizing the services of robot experts (of a Hyderabad-based private company). 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, an official release quoted him as saying.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the tunnel on March 2, suggested to the officials leading the rescue operation to use robots inside the tunnel if necessary, to avoid any danger to the rescue personnel.
The irrigation minister, who described the tunnel collapse as a national disaster, said the government is determined to continue the rescue operation though the conditions inside the tunnel, including low levels of oxygen, high seepage of water and the sturdy parts of TBM that got drowned in water and soil, posed challenges to the operation.
The TBM had got damaged inside the tunnel and rescue teams have been cutting its parts to reach the stranded persons. The government would fully stand by the workers and officials involved in the rescue work, the minister said. He instructed the officials to use the best technology in the world to locate the trapped persons.
Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar, who is supervising the rescue operation, and other officials informed the minister about its progress.
The minister discussed the hurdles faced during the operation, the reasons for lack of desired speed and the steps to be taken to overcome the challenges with the officials of National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), rat miners, robotic experts and others, the release said.
The minister thanked the officials, experts and personnel who are working hard. He said he would again visit the tunnel site on March 11. Chief Minister Reddy would either visit the site or review the rescue operation in Hyderabad, he said. The rescue operation has been going on amid challenging conditions, including slush and seepage of water.
The cadaver dogs deployed to locate human presence on Friday identified two possible spots for human presence and the rescue personnel have been removing the silt at those locations.
The Human Remains Detection Dogs are trained to locate missing humans and human bodies. The dogs of Kerala police (of the Belgian Malinois breed) can detect smell even from a depth of 15 feet, officials said.
Eight persons — engineers and labourers — have been trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel since February 22 and experts from the NDRF, Indian Army, Navy and other agencies are making relentless efforts to pull them out to safety.
