HYDERABAD: In a major boost to the efforts to extricate the eight workers trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel that collapsed on February 22, the conveyor belt started functioning again on Tuesday. This will help rescue teams transport around 800 tonnes of slush and debris per hour from the site of the accident to the outside of the tunnel.
Notwithstanding the earlier reports regarding the whereabouts of the eight trapped workers, officials said on Tuesday, the 11th day since the accident, that they had still not identified the location of the workers. The officials said that with the restoration of the conveyor belt, they would be able to remove 800 tonnes of slush and debris from the tunnel per hour.
A team from the National Centre for Seismology, Delhi, too reached the SLBC tunnel to add impetus to the rescue operations. The officials, at a review, identified the need for better coordination of rescue teams of various organisations. At present, the digging to identify the trapped workers was going on at the points identified with the help of ground-penetrating radar.
6,000 cubic metres of slush has to be removed
Two escalators were also readied near the tunnel. The tail-end parts of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) were being removed with gas cutters and would be brought outside the tunnel by loco train. Dewatering was continuing simultaneously.
The officials estimated that around 6,000 cubic metres of slush and debris have to be removed from the tunnel.
NDRF commandant VVN Prasanna Kumar told reporters that a sufficient number of water pumps had been made available for dewatering. A team from the Railways was cutting the TBM. He said that the NGRI identified eight spots through ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The rescue teams dug at four spots out of eight and found nothing, and digging was ongoing at the remaining spots. Prasanna Kumar said that a huge quantity of water was coming out of every pit they had dug so far.
However, the officials expressed confidence that they would be able to complete the rescue operations in the next two to three days.