NEW DELHI: The search operation to locate seven people trapped inside the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel since February 22 picked up pace with the deployment of an 'autonomous hydraulic-powered robot' equipped with special machinery on Saturday.

An autonomous hydraulic-powered robot is being used to remove soil, along with equipment such as a 30 HP capacity liquid ring vacuum pump and a vacuum tank machine, which facilitate the quick removal of soil and other debris inside the tunnel, accelerating the search operation, an official release said on Saturday.

Approximately 620 cubic meters of soil and muck can be removed from the tunnel per hour using a conveyor belt, it added.

Teams from the Army, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, HRDD (human remains detection dogs), state-run miner Singareni Collieries, a Hyderabad-based robotics company, and other agencies have been actively involved in the mission.

The search operation has been ongoing round-the-clock, including de-watering efforts.

The body of Gurpreet Singh, who worked as a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator, was recovered on March 9 and handed over to his family members in Punjab.

Apart from Gurpreet Singh, the seven others still trapped include Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Sunny Singh (Jammu & Kashmir), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab), and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.

The eight individuals—comprising engineers and labourers—became trapped in the SLBC project tunnel after a portion of it collapsed on February 22.