Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has said the exact location of the eight persons trapped inside the partially collapsed tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) Tunnel project is not known and that the government is trying to speed up the rescue operation. He said the government had suggested to officials leading the rescue operation to use robots inside the tunnel if necessary to avoid danger to rescue personnel. He also said the government is determined to resolve the issue and is also ready to support families who suffered due to the accident.

Speaking to the media after visiting the accident site in Nagarkurnool district last evening, the chief minister said the rescue operation will gain speed after the damaged conveyor belt is repaired and is expected to be restored later today. Mr Reddy also said the rescue teams are not able to come to a full understanding, of where the humans got stuck, and they have only a preliminary estimation. He further said despite the rat miners carrying out digging at the places identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute as possible locations of the humans, it did not reveal any human presence. Eight persons including two engineers have been trapped under the collapsed roof of the SLBC tunnel since the 22nd of last month and rescue operations are in full swing to bring them to safety.