SLBC Tunnel: Damaged Conveyor Operational

Nagarkurnool (Telangana): The conveyor belt at the partially collapsed SLBC tunnel, under which eight persons are trapped for the past 11 days, was repaired and made operational on Tuesday. It will now make it easier for rescue personnel to shift muck and debris out, officials said.

The conveyor belt was damaged following the accident on February 22, they said. The rescue operation was going on at a rapid pace on the 11th day of the accident on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a team of South Central Railway (SCR) comprising metal cutting experts cut the platform of the damaged Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) inside the tunnel, a SCR official said on Tuesday.

There was no breakthrough in the efforts to locate the eight trapped persons and rescuers are working in three shifts every day, an official told reporters. The process of removing debris and dewatering was going on, he said.

Nagarkurnool district Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad said on Monday evening that the government is exploring the option of deploying robots in the rescue operation to prevent any threat to the rescue personnel.