Telangana tunnel collapse: Search ops to get boost with deployment of robo

 The search for seven persons trapped inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here will get a boost following the deployment of a robo, officials said on Wednesday.

A Hyderabad-based company has taken an 'autonomous hydraulic powered robo' to the accident site and it would carry out activities like removal of debris and digging, an official statement said.

The robo can go to "dangerous places" (inside the tunnel) where humans cannot reach and it can also work with 15 times more capacity than humans, it quoted officials as saying.

The robo is being deployed to overcome the hurdles being faced in the search operation and to conduct it with more speed, it said.

The challenging conditions inside the tunnel include debris, mounds of soil and low levels of oxygen.

Slush would be removed by using a 40 HP pump with the aid of 'autonomous hydraulic powered robo'. The robo can remove 5,000 cubic metres of soil per hour, it said.

The release also said personnel belonging to 12 Central and state government organisations are carrying out the search operation round the clock.

State Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar, who has been supervising the search operation, held a meeting with officials of different organisations involved in the search operation, the release added.

Meanwhile, the dead body of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator Gurpreet Singh, whose body was recovered inside the tunnel on March 9, was handed over to his wife in his native village in Punjab, another release said.

The ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh announced by the Telangana government was also handed over to the family, it said.

The search for the seven persons trapped inside the tunnel continued for the 19th consecutive day on Wednesday.

Apart from Gurpreet Singh, the seven others still trapped include Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Sunny Singh (Jammu & Kashmir), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab), and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.

The eight individuals—comprising engineers and labourers—got trapped in the SLBC project tunnel after a portion of it collapsed on February 22.