Emergency responders are facing difficulties in their efforts to save a truck driver stuck in a sinkhole for more than 48 hours in a town north of Tokyo. A bystander informed local media that the 74-year-old man was halted near an intersection in Saitama Prefecture when the sinkhole unexpectedly appeared beneath him and his vehicle. Despite being conscious initially after the truck fell into the hole, the man was struck by a mudflow inside it, causing the soil and debris to collapse onto the truck, completely burying it. Regrettably, there has been no contact with the man despite continuous search operations.
The challenges in rescuing the driver stem from the unstable terrain surrounding the sinkhole. Another cavity that emerged nearby on Tuesday merged with the original one by early Thursday, resulting in a larger sinkhole now about 65 feet wide. A fire department official mentioned on Thursday that the sinkhole had deepened, blocking access to the front part of the truck where the driver is believed to be trapped. Due to the significant risks involved, only a limited number of rescue personnel can be deployed. Nonetheless, efforts to extricate the driver are ongoing and will be intensified.
Firefighters are contemplating using heavy machinery to clear the soil and debris obstructing the path to reach the stranded driver. While a crane successfully lifted a portion of the truck’s cargo bed to the surface on Wednesday, the driver was not found in that section of the vehicle. Authorities have connected the incident to a damaged sewer pipe beneath the road used for sewage transport to a nearby treatment facility, prompting the prefecture to advise against water usage to 1.2 million residents in the area.
Regular inspections of the sewer system under the road, conducted every five years, did not identify any immediate repair needs, according to an official in Saitama. Although some corrosion was observed during the latest inspection in fiscal year 2021, it was considered non-urgent. Given the circumstances, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism has called for prompt assessments of similar infrastructure, especially those associated with extensive sewage treatment facilities.