appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Agence France-Presse

Emergency workers in Japan began building a ramp on Friday to try and reach a 74-year-old truck driver who has not been heard from since his vehicle was swallowed by a sinkhole this week.
The cavity has expanded to 40 metres (130 feet) across, almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool, since opening up in a city just north of Tokyo on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The growing hole could be the result of corroded sewage pipes, according to authorities in Yashio.
“It is an extremely dangerous condition,” local fire chief Tetsuji Sato told reporters on Thursday at the traffic intersection where dozens of rescuers have been working around the clock.
“We are planning to construct a slope (to access the hole) from a safer spot so that we will be able to send heavy equipment,” he said.
He added that groundwater was leaking inside and that the hole was “continuing to cave in”.
No communication has been had with the driver since around midday Tuesday, with soil and other debris now covering the cabin of his truck in Yashio.
The punctured pipes “potentially allowed the surrounding soil to flow in and the space under the ground to hollow out”, Daisuke Tsutsui, a Saitama prefectural official, said on Thursday.


Authorities hoped to complete the 30-metre slope on Friday, but a local official said it may take several days.
The operation has been aggravated by the inner walls of the hole – now around 10 metres (30 feet) deep – continuing to erode, preventing rescuers from staying inside it for long.
Initially, the hole was around five metres in diameter but it has since combined with a much larger cavity that opened during the rescue operation on Tuesday night.
As the sinkhole has expanded, heavy chunks of asphalt have occasionally fallen in, preventing rescuers from going near the chasm.
This has also made it dangerous to place heavy machinery nearby.
The 1.2 million people living in the area have been asked to cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage from making the operation even more difficult.

“Using toilets is difficult to refrain from, but we are asking to use less water as much as possible,” an official said.
Some sewage water in the area was collected and released to a nearby river to reduce the run-off into the hole.
“It feels rather abnormal that the search is taking this long. I wonder if he could’ve been saved much sooner,” said Takuya Koroku, a local factory worker.
“I’m scared to go nearby,” the 51-year-old added.


Is Japan’s treaty-day Taiwan Strait warship transit a new flashpoint with China?

North Korea launches ballistic missiles as UN warns of nuclear advances

More jobs for the elderly: Shanghai eyes senior labour force amid China demographic crisis

Asia’s supply chain strengths could give it edge over US in AI race: Granite Asia’s Foo

Japan

Japan pensioner still missing as sinkhole – now 40 metres across – keeps growing

A huge sinkhole in Yashio in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, photographed from a helicopter on Friday. The hole appeared on Tuesday, swallowing a truck and its driver, and has enlarged. Photo: Kyodo

The truck pulled out from the sinkhole is seen at the scene on Friday, without its driver’s cabin, which was still in the ground. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chinese village’s sinkhole nightmare continues with kitchen floor collapse

The gaping sinkhole that appeared in the middle of Hu Yuzhen’s kitchen floor in a village in Guizou province, southwest China on December 9. Photo: Weibo / 红星新闻

More than 30 sinkholes have opened up in Xiangping village and its surrounding fields in Guizhou province, southwest China, since August last year. Photo: CCTV

Major Hong Kong road under repair after taxi plunges into sinkhole, leaving driver injured

The cab became fully submerged in the sinkhole by 2am on Sunday. Photo: Facebook/李般尼

Government employees drain the sinkhole and set to work pulling out the cab. Photo: Sam Tsang

Kuala Lumpur sinkhole tragedy a wake-up call, but who will take responsibility?

Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department officers inspect the site where a woman fell into an eight-metre-deep sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur on August 23. Photo: EPA-EFE

Days after an Indian tourist fell into an eight-metre-deep sinkhole on August 23 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a new sinkhole opened in the same area on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Giant sinkhole swallows centre of US soccer field built on top of limestone mine

A drone view shows a sinkhole that formed on a soccer field at Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois, on Thursday. Photo: Reuters 

Video: Large sinkhole discovered in southern China, the 30th of its kind in the same county

News

Asia

East Asia

The 74-year-old man’s truck was swallowed by the hole, now 40 metres across and still caving in, with corroded sewage pipes a possible cause


The 74-year-old man’s truck was swallowed by the hole, now 40 metres across and still caving in, with corroded sewage pipes a possible cause.


Japan pensioner still missing as sinkhole – now 40 metres across – keeps growing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 74-year-old man’s truck was swallowed by the hole, now 40 metres across and still caving in, with corroded sewage pipes a possible cause

The 74-year-old man’s truck was swallowed by the hole, now 40 metres across and still caving in, with corroded sewage pipes a possible cause