‘Use robots to locate trapped workers’

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said the exact location of the eight persons trapped inside the partially collapsed tunnel of the SLBC project is not known and that the government is trying to speed up the rescue operation.
He said the government had suggested to officials leading the rescue operation to use robots inside the tunnel if necessary to avoid danger to rescue personnel.
The government is determined to resolve the issue and is also ready to support families who suffered due to the accident, he said.
Revanth, who spoke to reporters after visiting the accident site in Nagarkurnool district on Sunday, said the rescue operation would gain speed after the damaged conveyor belt is
repaired. The conveyor belt which would help in carrying silt is expected to be restored by Monday.
“They (rescue personnel) are not able to come to a full understanding on where the humans and the machinery got stuck. They have only a preliminary estimation,” he said.
Although the rat miners carried out digging at the places identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) as possible locations of the humans, it did not reveal any human presence, the Chief Minister said. The slush and water emerging inside the tunnel hampered the rescue operation, he said.
The conveyor belt would be useful to remove the silt once it is repaired. Eight persons – engineers and labourers – are trapped under the collapsed roof of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel since February 22 and rescue operations are in full swing to bring them to safety.