Hyderabad, Mar 9: The 15-day-long operation to trace eight missing people inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district made some progress on Sunday, with the cadaver dogs from Kerala identifying a possible spot for human presence under the rubble.

The specially trained dogs identified human presence at the D-2 point about 100 meters from the accident site in the final stretch of the 14-km-long tunnel.

The rescue workers were carefully excavating silt at the identified location. Some of the missing persons are likely to be traced by the evening.

The rescue teams also reportedly found human parts of a person six feet under the debris on Saturday night. They were carrying out digging work around the location to pull out the body.

Two dogs trained to locate missing humans and human bodies were brought from Kerala by a special helicopter three days ago.

According to officials, these dogs of the Belgian Malinois breed can detect smell even from a depth of 15 feet.

Eight persons have been trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel since February 22, when a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed during the excavation.

Four labourers, two engineers and two machine operators, hailing from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, were trapped.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, Navy, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and other agencies have been making efforts to trace.

The authorities on Saturday deployed robots for rescue operations in the tunnel, as suggested by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy during his visit to the tunnel on March 2.

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy announced the deployment of robotic technology to accelerate rescue operations.

Robots equipped with cameras, infrared sensors, and robotic arms have been deployed to assess conditions and aid extraction.

The Minister, who reviewed the situation with the top officials of the rescue agencies engaged in the operation, stated that rescue teams have progressed up to 13.95 km, but the last 50 meters remain highly unstable due to oxygen depletion, water seepage, and metal debris from a collapsed Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM).

Dewatering and desilting efforts continued in the tunnel. The government has consulted global tunnel experts and deployed 525 personnel, ensuring no financial constraints, with Rs 4 crore allocated for robotic systems, the Minister said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy commended the relentless efforts of all involved and assured full support to the families of the trapped workers. He pledged to return in two to three days to assess progress, reaffirming that rescue operations will persist until all workers are retrieved.

(IANS)

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