Rescuers on Tuesday found a second body from the collapse site of the SLBC tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district. The body has not yet been identified, a top rescuer in the know told The Indian Express. The body was found 50 meters from the site where the collapse took place. A part of the tunnel roof had collapsed on February 22, trapping eight workers. On March 9, one body was recovered from near the Tunnel Boring Machine, which was operational when the collapse took place. The body was identified as that of Gurpreet Singh of Tarn Taran, Punjab. The second body was discovered a day after the Telangana government decided to go ahead with search operations at the tunnel. On Monday, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy attended a meeting to review the operations. The CM “instructed officials to expedite the necessary operations”, a press statement from the Chief Minister’s Office read. He also appointed a top IAS officer to oversee the operations. In the review meeting, the CM was briefed about the ongoing search operations led by 25 agencies, including central, state and private organisations. “A total of 700 personnel have been involved in the rescue operations,” officials told the CM. “In the meeting, top authorities said that rescue operations were delayed due to poor air and light conditions as the accident occurred 14 kilometres from the inlet in the tunnel. Thirty meters of the accident area has been identified as the most dangerous zone. The officials also clarified that rescue operations will have to be carried out in the tunnel according to the scientific studies of the GSI and NGRI,” a press statement read.
