Water in sinkhole near Tokyo hampers efforts to save man

Water inside a large sinkhole near Tokyo continued Wednesday to hamper efforts to rescue a man in a truck trapped inside, with local authorities warning of the risk of further expansion, Kyodo reports. 

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025, shows sinkholes at an intersection in Yashio in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. The one on the right appeared the previous day, swallowing a truck and a man believed to be its driver, while the other opened up during work to rescue him. (Kyodo)
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025, shows sinkholes at an intersection in Yashio in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. The one on the right appeared the previous day, swallowing a truck and a man believed to be its driver, while the other opened up during work to rescue him. (Kyodo)

A new sinkhole was also formed early Wednesday near the site in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, where a sewer pipe running underground was found damaged. To reduce the flow of water in the sinkholes, the prefectural government took the emergency step of discharging wastewater into a nearby river.

Residents in a total of 12 cities and towns have been urged to refrain from using the sewage system, affecting some 1.2 million people, according to the prefectural government.

Local authorities called on residents within a 200-meter radius to evacuate as there is a gas pipe running underground.

The fate of the 74-year-old man, whose truck was swallowed Tuesday morning at an intersection, is unknown as water in the hole hampered the operation, with the driver's seat now buried in sand.

He was initially able to speak but communication with him was lost from around 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The new hole was some 3 meters in width when it was formed but had widened to around 10 meters by 8 a.m. Wednesday. The signpost of a nearby restaurant also collapsed.

The first hole was possibly formed due to the corrosion of the sewer pipe running 10 meters below the prefectural road, which could have allowed soil and sand to flow into it, creating a hollow in the ground that collapsed under the weight of vehicles, prefectural officials said.

"We cannot rule out the possibility of the sinkhole expanding," Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono told reporters on Wednesday.

The cargo bed of the truck has been recovered from the hole, which measures 10 meters across and 6 meters in depth.

As earlier reported, a large sinkhole swallowed a truck Tuesday after appearing at an intersection near Tokyo, with local authorities working round the clock to rescue a trapped man believed to be the driver.

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