Hyderabad: In the early hours of Tuesday, rescue teams recovered another body from the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool, which had collapsed on February 22, trapping eight workers inside. The body, however, is stuck in a difficult position, and efforts are ongoing to retrieve it.

According to the rescue teams, "In the early morning today, we discovered another body trapped in a challenging position, and we are currently working to recover it."

The tragic incident occurred on February 22, when eight workers were trapped in the collapse. One of the victims, Gurpreet Singh, was recovered on March 9. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 25 lakhs to the families of the deceased.

The Telangana CM had earlier directed officials to speed up rescue operations to locate and bring out the workers trapped inside the SLBC tunnel. He instructed Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a Special Officer to oversee the rescue efforts.

On Monday, CM Revanth Reddy reviewed the progress of the ongoing operations at the Assembly Hall. Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, and other top officials attended the meeting.

State Special Chief Secretary for Disaster Management Arvind Kumar and Colonel Parikshit Mehra briefed the CM on the progress made in the rescue operations over the past month.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that a total of 25 agencies, including various wings of the Central and State governments as well as private organisations, are involved in the efforts. In total, 700 personnel have been working on the rescue operation.

The rescue teams are tasked with removing debris, dismantling the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) parts, and clearing soil mounds, silt, and seepage water from inside the tunnel. The heads of the rescue teams also presented a PowerPoint presentation to explain the current status of operations.

Authorities acknowledged that the rescue efforts had been delayed due to poor air and lighting conditions in the tunnel, which is located 14 kilometres from the inlet. The accident site, identified as the most hazardous zone, spans a 30-metre stretch.