Telangana SLBC tunnel collapse: Rescue workers locate five to six bodies amid silt and debris

Ambulances reach mishap site, officials from different departments alerted, emergency situation prevailing at government general hospital

Nagarkurnool: After seven days of operations, rescue workers located five to six bodies trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel at Domalpenta in the district late on Friday night, reliable sources said.

The bodies are being taken out from the silt and debris accumulated in the tunnel. A few ambulances have reached the mishap site.

Already, officials from different departments, especially Police and Health, have been alerted and an emergency situation is prevailing at the government general hospital in the district.

As per the situation at the mishap site, officials are tight-lipped over sharing information on the developments. They are likely to make a formal announcement on Saturday morning over the rescue operations.

A portion of the SLBC tunnel had collapsed on February 22 and eight workers were trapped inside the tunnel. Nearly 600 personnel from 12 different departments have been taking up rescue operations.

Clearing the heaps of debris, including steel and iron, has been a challenge for the rescue workers. Workers managed to reach the last 50 metres from the spot of collapse and are clearing the muck since Friday morning.

The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) team has been using the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system as part of the rescue operations. GPR is a geophysical survey under which electromagnetic waves are transmitted to image the subsurface.

The NGRI team scanned different locations in the tunnel using the GPR survey method. Five locations suspected with human bodies were marked and accordingly the rescue workers headed towards the identified locations and cleared the debris and silt and eventually pulled the bodies out, the sources said.

Earlier in the day, Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who had personally inspected the mishap site, said only a miracle could save the trapped persons.