Over 500 rescuers working to extricate trapped persons

NAGARKURNOOL, (Telangana) Feb 28: Over 500 rescuers worked on a war footing on Friday to help trace the eight people who have been trapped in the SLBC tunnel, portion of which collapsed six days ago. However, no breakthrough has been achieved yet.
Meanwhile, Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh dismissed reports that NGRI’s ground penetrating radar (GPR) have captured images of human bodies in debris of the SLBC tunnel where eight persons were trapped.
“We have noticed that some fake news is going on that some bodies have been found. That news is not true. I request the Media also. If there is any such news, we will inform from the Collector’s side,” he told reporters.
Officials said rat miners are trying to penetrate and confirm what they are.
Earlier, in a statement, the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd said as per government’s instructions, the coal miner has deployed 200 personnel for the ongoing rescue operations at SLBC tunnel.Similarly, South Central Railway deployed its teams with equipment such as plasma cutter and machine and Brocho cutting machine, SCR Chief Public Relations officer (CPRO) A Sridhar said.
A team of over 500 skilled personnel of Army, Navy, Singareni Collieries and other agencies along with central and state disaster response teams were involved in the rescue ops over the past few days.
A senior police official said the metal cutting and debris clearing process is continuously going on.
“One team went into the tunnel at 7 AM. The clearing of debris has been going on since yesterday morning. Dewatering is also going on,” he said.
Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy had on Wednesday said the TBM (tunnel boring machine) that is struck inside will be cut into pieces by using gas cutters and removed. After this, the Army, Navy, Rat Miners and NDRF teams will make another serious effort to rescue the eight persons who are missing, without compromising their own safety.
Eight personnel working on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel project were trapped after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on February 22. (PTI)