A sinkhole swallowed a truck driver in Japan. It’s expanding and residents are worried
The pit has expanded to 40 meters wide – four times its width when it first appeared, a local official told CNN on Friday.
An aerial view is pictured of a large sinkhole that swallowed a truck and a man at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture on January 30. (Photo credit: Kyodo/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
Tokyo (CNN) — Japanese authorities have asked hundreds of residents near Tokyo to evacuate as a sinkhole at an intersection grew to more than 40 meters wide, hampering rescuers racing to reach an elderly truck driver whose vehicle was swallowed by the hole.
On Tuesday, part of a road intersection in Saitama prefecture, about 18 miles north of Japan’s capital, opened up, swallowing a three-ton truck and its driver, a 74-year-old man, prompting a rescue mission now in its fourth day.
The pit has expanded to 40 meters wide – four times its width when it first appeared, a local official told CNN on Friday.
“The inside is gouging and it’s getting bigger every day,” the official from Saitama Prefecture’s Sewerage Works Division said.
Rescuers have used cranes to lift part of the truck out of the hole and have sent drones underground but have not been able to communicate with the truck driver since Tuesday.
Rescue operations continue for a truck driver after his vehicle plunged into a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture. (Photo credit: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Authorities believe that corroded sewer pipes may have caused the earth to fall in. Leaking wastewater may have further eroded the surrounding soil, widening the chasm, they said.
Two hundred households have been asked to evacuate from the area since Tuesday, local authorities said.
Local authorities also asked 1.2 million residents to refrain from bathing and doing laundry in a bid to cut down on wastewater, which could further complicate rescue efforts in the fragile area.
The sudden opening of the earth has sparked fears among some in the densely-populated region about the labyrinth of ageing pipes beneath their homes and businesses.
“I live close to the area, and I’ve been watching all the news footage. The moment the hole widens was really scary,” said one user on the social media platform, X.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism told CNN Friday that it has ordered emergency inspections of similar sewer pipes across Saitama and six other prefectures, home to around 39 million people.
Pipe decay
Sinkholes are most common in areas underlain by rocks like gypsum, limestone and other carbonate rocks, which can be naturally dissolved by groundwater, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Much of the state of Florida is underlain by limestone, making it extremely susceptible to the phenomena, USGS noted.
Takashi Oguchi, a geographer from the University of Tokyo, said sinkholes are rare in Japan, where most roads are built on unconsolidated fluvial and marine sediments.
But he warned that when a large underground waterpipe ruptures, leaked water could wash away these sediments, creating a sinkhole.
Much of Japan’s public infrastructure was built between the 1960s and 1970s during an economic boom in the wake of World War II, during which much of Tokyo was destroyed by American bombing raids.
The sewage system in question in the Saitama prefecture is about 42 years old.
“We will have such events more in the future because the decay of underground pipes is ongoing little by little, and many pipes are located below roads,” Oguchi said.
Reiko Kuwano, a civil engineering professor from Tokyo University, said inspecting pipes buried deep underground is always a challenge.
Difficult rescue operation
At the traffic intersection in Saitama on Friday, rescuers raced to reach the driver trapped for days meters below the tarmac.
The mission has proven difficult so far, the official from Sewerage Works Division told CNN.
He said the original hole that brought down the driver had merged with a second sinkhole nearby, resulting in the expansion of the sinkhole.
The driver was “buried in earth and sand, and if we bring heavy equipment near the asphalt it might fall in,” he said.
He said rescue workers are planning to build a ramp to bring the heavy equipment from an angle.
“We’re working hard building the ramp and aiming to get it built by today,” he said.
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