SLBC Tunnel Collapse: Rescue operations continue amid grim atmosphere
Efforts are on to establish a conveyor belt from the incident location to the tunnel exit, besides dewatering the tunnel
Hyderabad: Even as the atmosphere was grim with little hopes left of any of the eight trapped workers surviving after 10 days underneath the debris of the SLBC tunnel roof that collapsed on February 22, rescue operations continued in Domalpenta. On Monday, officials intensified efforts to establish the conveyor belt to transport steel and other debris out of the tunnel.
To make rescue operations even challenging, there was continuous seepage of water inside the tunnel. Amidst the heaps of debris and silt, officials were finding it a task to clear the debris faster and move further ahead. Efforts are on to establish a conveyor belt from the incident location to the tunnel exit, besides dewatering the tunnel.
Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar is monitoring the operations and coordinating with the 12 different departments involved in the exercise. All measures were being taken up to use advanced technology for clearing the accumulated sludge and debris. Also, steps were being taken to arrest the seepage of water from the tunnel ceiling and sideways, besides dewatering measures, he said in a press release issued by the Nagarkurnool district administration.
According to officials, work on establishing the conveyor belt would be completed by Tuesday morning. This would aid in faster clearance of debris from the location.
Earlier, there were reports stating that the NGRI using a Ground Penetrating Radar had traced the locations of humans trapped at the Tunnel Boring Machine and other spots. However, this has not been officially confirmed yet.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who inspected the tunnel on Sunday, had said that if need be, advanced robots would be pressed into use to expedite the rescue operations.