Second body found at SLBC site, one month after tunnel collapse

Rescue teams find remains of missing personnel in Srisailam tunnel collapse, intensify efforts for recovery.

Over a month after the partial collapse of Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel, multiple rescue agencies on Tuesday (March 25, 2025) found the remains on one of the seven missing personnel.

“We should be able to extricate the body and bring it out by this noon,” a senior official overseeing the rescue and search operations confirmed to The Hindu.

“It was identified between the end point of loco and D2. One of the loco bogies was stuck in the muck and by the side of it the body trace was found,” officials said.

This is the second body to be traced after the first one was found on March 9 evening. The first body was identified as that of Gurpreet Singh, Tunnel Bore Machine (TBM) operator hailing from Punjab.

The latest breakthrough comes a day after the Telangana Government decided to continue rescue operations at the collapsed tunnel site until the remaining missing persons are brought out. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had on Monday held a high-level review meeting on the rescue operation where he told the agencies to continue the operations.

The Government had also appointed Shiva Shanker Lotheti as a special officer to oversee the rescue operations. An expert committee was also constituted. The Government has decided to take the necessary permissions from the Centre to continue the rescue operations. He wanted the officials to use the suggestions of the expert committee constituted last month in the rescue operation.

It may be mentioned here that more than 700 personnel from 25 agencies – including 11 from the Government of India, eight from the State Government and six from the private sector are involved in the rescue effort. A total of 180 loco trips have carried 7800 men inside the tunnel in this last month and a total of 1,05,736 men hours have been used in the rescue operation since the day of accident till now.