T'gana tunnel collapse: Search op in full swing to locate seven missing persons

The search for seven persons trapped inside the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here was going on at a brisk pace on Thursday, involving specialised digging by rat miners and deployment of robots.

Personnel from the state-run miner Singareni Collieries along with rat miners were excavating at the 'D 1 and D 2' points, which have been identified as possible sites of the missing persons, an official statement said.

The Kerala police's Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDD) have been taken inside the tunnel to these points, it said adding the robots developed by Hyderabad-based robotics company continue to be on the job.

The robots can access "dangerous places" (inside the tunnel), which humans cannot reach and can operate with 15 times greater efficiency, it added.

Additionally, teams from South Central Railway equipped with plasma cutters and thermal cutters were engaged in cutting sections of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). The search operation was going on round the clock, including de-watering.

Teams from Army, NDRF, SDRF, HRDD, Singareni Collieries, the robotics company and others were actively involved in the mission.

State Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar has been supervising the search operation.

The body of Gurpreet Singh, who worked as a TBM operator, was recovered on March 9. The body was handed over to his family members in Punjab.

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.