Beas tragedy: Rescue teams to use sonar, LIDAR
Hard areas like rocks and bodies reflect more sound in sonar and LIDAR
Hyderabad: As the sixth day’s search for the bodies of the missing engineering students in the Beas River at Mandi in HP failed to yield any results the NDMA has decided to use Side Scan Sonar and Light Detection Ranging (LIDAR) equipment from Sunday.
Side Scan Sonar creates an image of the river floor and measures the strength of the sound signal based on the echo. Hard areas like rocks and bodies reflect more sound. LIDAR is a remote sensing method that uses laser and generates a 3D image of the surface. Vishakapatnam-based hydrologists have brought in Side Scan Sonar while LIDAR was supplied by GMR airport.
NDMA vice chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy said, “Redu-cing the flow from Larji Dam failed to yield any results. Within the three km around 500 people were deployed. Rescue teams scanned the area, and it is highly unlikely to find any bodies in that stretch. Under water cameras brought by the Navy has not been of use due to low visibility in the muddy waters.”
"The focus will be on Pandoh dam reservoir. Using hi-tech equipment which can scan the water up to 50 metres on either side the operation will be launched on Sunday. Water is being released from the Pandoh Dam through minor openings to prevent bodies from moving further ahead,” Mr Reddy added.
He said this is the biggest search operation in the history of Himachal Pradesh. "Past experience says that there would be considerable delay in recovering bodies and sometimes it is not possible to recover the body at all," said Reddy. At least 16 engineering students and a tour guide are still missing. The bodies of eight students have been recovered so far.
Meanwhile, the parents of the victims staged a protest against the management of VNR Vignan Institute of Engineering and Technology at the mishap site. They blamed the college for selecting a tour operator with no experience. Parents said that there was no mistake on the part of the students. They placed the blame solely on the college for its negligence which led to the incident.