Hyderabad: Two weeks after the body of a missing worker was found in the collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel, rescuers made a grim discovery early Tuesday morning. The body of Manoj Kumar, a project engineer from Uttar Pradesh working for Jaypee Associates, was recovered inside the tunnel.
The body was located buried in debris 180 to 200 metres from the impact point, near the last point of the locomotive and D2 point. Officials confirmed that the body remained largely intact, with the exception of the fingers which had been damaged by silt mixed with water.
“Based on the gold chain around his neck, the gold ring, jeans, and T-shirt, he was identified as Manoj Kumar. We compared the descriptions provided by his family, and after sending his photographs to them in Lucknow, we received confirmation,” officials said.
The body was transported to Nagarkurnool hospital for medical procedures before being sent to his hometown, accompanied by a team from the revenue, police, and health departments. The state govt has already announced compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the families of the missing workers.
The devastating roof collapse occurred on Feb 22 at Domalapenta village in Nagarkurnool district while about 50 workers were inside the tunnel. While most workers escaped unscathed, eight were trapped under the debris. Since the collapse, nearly 25 agencies, both state and central, have been tirelessly working to locate the missing workers. The body of Gurpreet Singh, a 22-year-old man from Punjab, was recovered from the tunnel boring machine site on March 9.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy, who recently chaired a review meeting on the SLBC rescue operations, assured the search would go on. “We will not cease operations until all the missing persons are found,” he reiterated.
With muck removal operations in progress, officials are optimistic about finding more bodies. “We expect to recover three to four more bodies from the same area,” a senior official said. “We are hopeful of locating two to three more bodies by Wednesday,” he said.
