Tarn Taran (Punjab), Mar 10 (PTI) Gurpreet Singh, whose body was pulled out from the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana, was the sole breadwinner of his family, relatives said on Monday.

Singh, a resident of Punjab's Tarn Taran district, is survived by his wife, two minor daughters aged 13 and 16, and mother, they said.

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Singh, who worked as a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator for Robbins Co, was among the eight men trapped inside the tunnel after its partial collapse on February 22.

The body of Singh (40) was recovered from the tunnel on Sunday. Rescue operations continued on Monday to locate the remaining seven persons.

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His body was extricated following "very careful" digging and other efforts for more than 48 hours. It was buried under silt at a depth of about 10 feet, officials said.

Meanwhile, Singh's family members at his native place Cheema Kalan village here were inconsolable while villagers were coming in to express their condolences.

His cousin Pargat Singh Cheema said Singh is survived by his two minor daughters aged 13 and 16, wife Rajwinder Kaur and mother Darshan Kaur.

Singh had been working with the company for the last two decades and was the only earning member in the family, Cheema said.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has already announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 25 lakh to Singh's family.

The eight persons -- engineers and labourers -- got trapped in the SLBC tunnel project after a portion of it collapsed on February 22.

Experts from the NDRF, Indian Army, Navy and other agencies were making relentless efforts to pull them out to safety.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)