metro india news  I nagarkurnool

In a breakthrough in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapse rescue operation in Telangana that has been going on for a week, the whereabouts of four of the total eight persons trapped has been located, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Excise Jupally Krishna Rao said on Saturday.

Krishna Rao, who attended a meeting with officials involved in the rescue operation along with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said the debris removal and dewatering work in the SLBC tunnel is continuing in full swing, with the rescue team on one side and machinery on the other. "In my view, the whereabouts of four persons have been located through radar," he told reporters at the tunnel. He expressed hope they would be extricated by Sunday evening. The other four appear to have been stuck beneath the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Minister said.

Asked about the condition of the four whose whereabouts have been found, the minister recalled he had said on the first day itself that the chances of survival are remote. The 450 feet tall TBM was being cut, he said. Jupally Krishna Rao questioned BRS leaders, who claim to have dug 200 km of tunnels as part of the Kaleshwaram project, why they could not complete the SLBC tunnel during their ten-year rule. 

"If the SLBC project had been completed then, this incident would not have happened," he pointed out. The personnel of about 11 agencies are involved in the operation. Referring to the criticism of opposition parties that the operation is getting delayed, Krishna Rao said those involved in the endeavour are experts but the rescue work is complex in view of the conditions, including slush, inside the tunnel.