THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cadaver dogs of Kerala Police will be joining Telangana tunnel collapse rescue operation, the state government said on Thursday.

The cadaver dogs (that are specially trained to locate missing humans, human bodies) and the officers handling them left for Hyderabad on Thursday morning, Kerala government said in a statement.

The dogs were sent for the rescue operation following a request by the State Disaster Management Authority whose help in the matter was sought by the National Disaster Management Authority, the statement said.

Eight persons -- engineers and labourers -- have been trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel in Telangana since February 22 and experts from the NDRF, Indian Army, Navy and other agencies are making relentless efforts to pull them out to safety.