Rescue teams working hard to extricate the eight men trapped under the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel here for over two weeks, on Sunday retrieved the body of one of them from under 10 feet of silt.
The deceased has been identified as Gurpreet Singh of Punjab, who was working for Robbins Co, which was involved in the tunnel works.
Singh was identified based on a earring on the left ear lobe and tattoo on the right hand, a senior official told PTI. He was a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy condoled Singh’s death.
After being brought out of the tunnel, the body was sent to the Nagarkurnool civil hospital for post mortem and to follow other procedures.
The body could be extricated following “very careful” digging and other efforts for more than 48 hours, the official said. It was buried under silt at a depth of about 10 feet.
A member of the rescue team told a TV channel the operation was speedened up in the last three days by removing metal scrap.
Cadaver dogs, trained to detect human parts and missing humans, had identified two spots inside the tunnel and digging was carried out by involving different agencies, including rat miners, he said.
“Yesterday, around midnight, a hand was noticed. There were seven layers of steel (on the body). We cut the layers and removed the body,” the rescuer said.
Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santhosh said an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh would be provided to Singh’s family.
The mortal remains of Singh would be sent to his native place in Punjab, after the completion of medical procedures, in a special ambulance, an official release said.
Meanwhile, the search for the remaining workers continues as it is, the official added.
State Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar, who has been supervising the multi-agency rescue operation, appreciated the role of NDRF personnel, state-run miner Singareni Collieries Ltd and rat miners in the operation.
Earlier, the state government deployed cadaver dogs of the Kerala Police to look for human presence and the rescue personnel carried out digging at the spots suggested by the canines.
Eight persons — engineers and labourers — have been trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel since February 22 and experts from the NDRF, Indian Army, Navy and other agencies have been working to pull them out to safety.
The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar (UP), Sri Niwas (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
The rescue operation has been complicated by tough conditions inside the tunnel, including seepage of water, slush and debris.
The Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) had suggested possible locations for their presence.
The scientists from the Hyderabad-based NGRI had used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) inside the tunnel to look for human presence, though the conditions posed a challenge to them as well.
The digging carried out at some of the locations did not show any human presence.
