Rescue workers are still trying to retrieve a 74-year-old truck driver whose 2-ton vehicle fell into a large sinkhole at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Tuesday morning. A report of the collapsed road and the fallen truck was received at around 9:50 a.m. According to firefighters, the hole is about 10 meters wide and 5 meters deep. The collapse, local authorities have said, was likely caused by a ruptured sewage pipe running around 10 meters below the prefectural road.
The fate of the truck driver remains unknown. Firefighters deployed a crane and ropes to try to pull him out, but water in the hole has hampered the rescue operation. The man was initially able to speak. Communication with him, however, was lost at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday. “I could still see part of the truck at first, but then it kept sinking … and sinking … and then it was just gone,” said one local. The cargo bed of the man’s truck was recovered from the opening in the early hours of Wednesday. The driving compartment, though, was left behind in the hole.
New Saitama Sinkhole Emerges Nearby
That same morning, a new sinkhole emerged nearby to further hamper the rescue operation. NHK reported that it began to widen in the early hours of Thursday. Residents within a radius of about 200 meters from the sinkholes have been urged by Yashio city officials to evacuate, as further cave-ins could damage the underground gas pipes and potentially cause a gas leak. On Wednesday night, workers began pumping up sewage water to discharge it into a nearby river as an emergency measure.
There is uncertainty as to when the sewage pipe will be fixed. For the time being, the prefectural government has called on residents in and around Yoshio to use less water.
