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Fears are growing for a truck driver who has spent three days trapped inside a sinkhole in Japan, as rescue workers started building a ramp in a desperate attempt to reach him.
The 74-year-old, who has not been named, became trapped when the sinkhole opened up in a road near Tokyo on Tuesday, swallowing him and his two-tonne truck.
The hole has since grown in size, while leaking water pipes and a nearby gas pipe have complicated efforts to rescue him. As darkness fell on Friday, workers had started constructing a 30-metre long a ramp that they hope will allow them to reach the man, whose cab is covered in soil and other debris.
As residents of Yashio, a town in Saitama prefecture, questioned the slow pace of the rescue operation, the local fire chief, Tetsuji Sato, described the scene at the traffic intersection where the sinkhole opened up as “extremely dangerous”.
“We are planning to construct a slope from a safer spot so that we will be able to send down heavy equipment,” Sato said, adding that groundwater was continuing the leak inside the hole, which is still expanding. The Kyodo news agency reported the sinkhole was 15 metres deep and 40 metres wide.
Residents living within a 200-metre radius of the site were ordered to evacuate, and 1.2 million people in nearby towns and cities have been asked to cut back on baths and laundry to prevent leaking sewage water from making the operation even more hazardous.
“It’s difficult not to use the toilet, but we are asking people to do their best to use less water,” a prefectural official said.
Authorities in Yashio believe the sinkhole was formed as a result of corroded sewage pipes, which allowed water to seep into the surrounding soil and loosen it. Some sewage water in the area has been collected and disinfected before being released into a nearby river to reduce the runoff into the hole.
The rescue operation, in its fourth day, has been complicated by further erosion of the sinkhole walls, making it impossible for workers to remain below ground for long periods.
Concern is growing for the health of the trapped truck driver, who spoke to rescue workers shortly after his vehicle fell into the hole on Tuesday morning, but has not been heard from since around noon the same day. The 72-hour period considered crucial to the survival of people who become trapped without food or water has passed.
Workers had hoped to complete the slope by the end of Friday, but an official said it could take several days to complete.
Once the ramp is complete, heavy equipment will be used to clear the rubble and rescue workers will venture into the sinkhole to search for the man, Kyodo said.
Some people living nearby questioned why it was taking so long to locate the truck driver. “It feels rather abnormal that the search is taking this long,” Takuya Koroku, a 51-year-old factory worker, told Agence France-Presse. “I wonder if he could have been saved much sooner. I’m scared to go near it.”
