What appears to be a human body has been found inside the cabin of a truck swallowed by a massive sinkhole that opened at an intersection in Yashio adding they believe it is the missing male driver Firefighters and police plan to enter the sewer pipe in Saitama Prefecture as early as Friday to begin full-scale recovery operations A figure resembling a human body was visually confirmed early Thursday during the first entry into the pipe since the incident conducted to assess water flow and hydrogen sulfide gas levels the prefectural government determined that the risk of further disaster inside the sewer pipe was low enough to proceed with entry swallowed the truck of a driver in his 70s and eventually expanded to about 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep The truck's cabin was swept roughly 30 meters downstream with priority given to stabilizing the sewer the prefecture completed bypass work to divert a large volume of sewage water Authorities plan to use a sloped access route built from the sinkhole to the sewer pipe to reach the truck cabin A separate vertical shaft has been prepared to lift the cabin using heavy machinery "The entire prefecture has been working together to enable rescue as soon as possible We will continue our efforts to ensure access to the driver's cabin," Saitama Gov Motohiro Ono said at a disaster response meeting Thursday Missing truck cabin located in sewer pipe near Saitama sinkhole 2-week search ends for trapped driver inside sinkhole near Tokyo To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible Today's print edition Home Delivery Rescuers have recovered the body of a truck driver who was swallowed by a huge sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture three months ago A road in the city of Yashio caved in during morning rush hour in late January while the 74-year-old man was driving his truck on it.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); which was caused by corroded sewerage pipes In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Police officers and rescue members prepare for a rescue mission in Yashio two days after a truck fell into the sinkhole made on a street Tuesday First responders try to rescue the driver of a truck that fell into a sinkhole on a street in Yashio TOKYO (AP) — A truck that fell into a sinkhole that suddenly opened on a road near Tokyo has captured national attention as attempts to rescue the elderly driver drag on Residents near the hole have taken shelter at a local school and there were worries Thursday about flooding and leaking sewage water There’s also been a renewed debate about Japan’s aging infrastructure Just after the sinkhole appeared in Yashio City on Tuesday morning a 3-ton truck fell into it At first the sinkhole was roughly 10 meters (33 feet) wide and 5-meters (16-feet) deep A 74-year-old man is believed to be trapped in the cabin of the flat-bed truck He was conscious and communicating with rescue workers earlier but hasn’t responded since Tuesday afternoon according to Yashio fire department official Yoshifumi Hashiguchi Saitama prefectural sewer system official Jun Uehara said corrosion possibly because of strong acid constantly passing through the system causing soil above to fall in and create a large hollow space between it and the road No problem was found with the pipe during its last visual inspection The sewage water leaking out of the damaged pipe may also cause flooding Television footage captured the asphalt road cracking and collapsing into the sinkhole Authorities have tried to save the driver by lifting his truck with cranes but they could only recover the loading platform leaving behind the cabin where the driver is believed to be trapped Officials have also tried without success to remove sediment and dig out the driver They also flew a drone into the hole to see if rescue workers can climb down Neighbors are being asked to cut back on water use There’s also uncertainty about how long the operations will last About 20 residents within a 200-meter (656-feet) radius of the sinkhole have taken shelter at a local junior high school Thursday Over one million residents across the Saitama prefecture especially in areas where sewage goes to the pipe have been asked to cut back on laundry and bathing to prevent it from overflowing into the sinkhole Prefectural officials have also started diverting sewage from an upstream pumping station and release it into a nearby river after treatment experts will enter the sinkhole and inspect the sewage system Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has ordered a nationwide inspection of sewer systems In one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries the sinkhole has raised worries about aging infrastructure Most of Japan’s main public infrastructure was built during the rapid economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s The sewage pipe in Yashiro is about 40 years old A sinkhole estimated to be the size of a large swimming pool swallowed a truck and its driver as it opened up in the middle of a busy intersection in Japan according to multiple reports citing the country's officials The crater, which reached about 32 feet wide and 16 feet deep, popped up in Yashio City on Monday around 10 a.m. (8 p.m. ET), Motohiro Ono, the governor of Saitama Prefecture said during a news briefing on Tuesday, NBC News reported Yashio City authorities received calls around 9:50 a.m. about the road being caved in and the truck falling inside of it, according to CBS News "We have been carrying out a rescue operation ever since," a fire department spokesperson told the outlet around seven hours later we're trying to see if we can pull up the truck using a large crane There is (the) risk that the hole will collapse." Saitama Prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo area Even eight hours following the collapse, the man remained trapped inside his truck due to the driver's seat being filled with sand and mud, Nippon TV station reported emergency responders were pumping air into the large hole to deliver the driver oxygen The driver could still communicate with rescuers around 1 p.m., but the responders retreated from the crater after the area around the hole became unstable, the fire department spokesperson told CBS News. Yashio City Police told NHK that the investigation into the sinkhole is ongoing and that rescuers have not been able to speak with the trapper truck driver Watch: Video captures sinkhole where garbage truck crash knocked out power for parts of Omaha Ono said he thought the sinkhole may have been caused by a "crack in the Nakagawa River Basin sewer pipe," NBC News reported According to government officials in Saitama Prefecture, the collapse may have happened due to a heavily corroded sewage pipe that runs 10 meters underground, the Mainichi Shimbun The belief is that surrounding sediment flowed into the pipe and created a hollow space under the road which was unable to hold up the weight as vehicles passed Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed The national government and all local governments that manage roads and sewerage systems must take the issue of deteriorating infrastructure seriously and act quickly. The ongoing drama of the collapse of a prefectural road in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture The collapse formed a massive sinkhole that swallowed up a truck and its still-missing driver.  the outlook for rescue and restoration efforts at that disaster site remains unclear when a highway intersection suddenly caved in An underground sewer pipe apparently corroded This caused soil and sand to flow into the cavity under the road which Something resembling the driver's seat of the truck that had fallen into the hole was found downstream inside the sewer pipe the whereabouts of the driver remain unknown The search is proving difficult amid fears of secondary collapses. Therefore, it will likely take quite some time to correct the situation. Residents in the surrounding neighborhoods continue to face inconveniences due to evacuations and water-saving measures.  the sewer pipes have been in use for 42 years and are inspected every five years it was determined that no immediate repairs were necessary.  Road collapses caused by aging sewer pipes have been occurring one after another in various locations. Saitama Prefecture is establishing a third-party committee to investigate the causes of this accident. It will look into such things as the causal relationship with deterioration, as well as construction and management methods.  It is also imperative to determine whether inspections have been adequate We would like to see a thorough investigation into the causes and implementation of countermeasures.  The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has ordered emergency inspections in seven prefectures All of them manage large sewer pipes similar to the one in Saitama The deterioration of infrastructure features constructed in large volume during Japan's period of rapid economic growth is a grave issue nationwide Many facilities have generally reached the end of their 50-year service life This is evident from accidents resulting in damage About 7% of sewer pipes nationwide had already exceeded their service life by the end of FY2012 That figure is expected to jump to 40% within 20 years and other infrastructure also face similar challenges Local governments are forced to conduct a tremendous volume of inspections and repairs due to financial difficulties and a lack of personnel Meanwhile, drones and artificial intelligence (AI) in rescue work are becoming more widespread the public and private sectors must work together to accelerate the development of even more efficient inspection methods The infrastructure that supports society and the economy is after all the foundation of a nation.  As we enter an era of seriously aging infrastructure the national government needs to accelerate its strategy of supporting local governments it must advance the technology available to address these needs Author: Editorial Board You must be logged in to post a comment ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information Editorial A truck fell into a massive sinkhole that opened up on a busy prefectural road on Jan rescue workers must put his safety above all else while striving to repair the damage in good time the central and local governments must check aging infrastructure for potential problems and draw up countermeasures without delay The cave-in occurred on a heavily trafficked intersection in Yashio The sinkhole had a diameter of about 10 meters at first According to the Saitama prefectural government which runs about 10.6 meters deep at the accident site This is believed to have resulted in the surrounding earth and sand shifting and drifting into the broken pipe thereby creating a sinkhole below the road Local residents were forced to evacuate temporarily while the prefecture also asked about 1.2 million residents in 12 nearby cities and towns to refrain from bathing and washing clothes to minimize the flow of sewer water The sewer pipe in question was laid 42 years ago The standard service life of sewer pipes is said to be 50 years “parts that are highly prone to corrosion” due to differentials in slope levels or generation of hydrogen sulfide must be checked every five years But the law did not apply to the accident site in Yashio the Saitama prefectural government conducted an independent survey there and concluded there was no need for “any immediate work.” An investigation is needed to further probe the cause of the problem and examine the appropriateness of the 2021 survey method and the conclusion reached by the government sewer pipe problems caused more than 2,600 road cave-ins around the nation in fiscal 2022 and deterioration of the pipes was one of the top factors 7 percent of sewer pipes were aged 50 or older The number is expected to reach 15 percent in 2030 The importance of inspections and repairs has been repeatedly emphasized but the government should take the cue from the latest mishap to reassess the statutory examination system and the nature of its directives The deterioration of infrastructure will accelerate in the days ahead 35 percent of tunnels and 21 percent of sewer pipes will have exceeded 50 years since construction Should natural disasters make matters worse is that repairs and renovations are not being done sufficiently because of labor and fiscal restrictions The government needs to consider adding those undertakings to its emergency relief programs as well as mid- to long-term projects in the next “Building National Resilience against Disasters” program the government must focus more on disaster prevention and mitigation work and appropriate a sufficient budget to the management and renewal of infrastructure that is already in heavy use it would be good to improve the efficiency of prevention and prediction measures by relying on drones artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technology and expanding collaboration among local administrative authorities Infrastructure is the foundation that supports industry and people’s daily lives but we often fail to notice the advancing deterioration that may not be immediately discernible Trucker trapped in 10-meter-deep sinkhole in eastern Saitama Residents asked to sacrifice again as rescue work at sinkhole stalls cave-ins hamper rescue of trucker stuck in growing sinkhole Workers finish building ramp into sinkhole to rescue driver Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission A sinkhole at an intersection near Tokyo that swallowed a truck collapsed further Thursday and merged with a second opening that had formed nearby as rescue efforts continued into a third day to save the driver has expanded to roughly 40 meters wide and up to 15 meters deep since first appearing on Tuesday The prefectural government had estimated its width at around 20 meters Firefighters plan to deploy heavy machinery inside the hole to remove earth and rubble While the trapped 74-year-old man was initially able to speak communication has been lost since Tuesday afternoon with the driver's seat of the truck buried in debris A sewer pipe running underground in the area was found damaged leading the prefectural government to start discharging wastewater into the nearby Niigata River late Wednesday as an emergency step to reduce the water flowing into the sinkhole The wastewater is treated with chlorine to prevent the contamination of the river The duration of the operation is undetermined having been carried out on occasions such as the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan Some 1.2 million residents in a total of 12 cities and towns in the prefecture have been urged to refrain from using the sewage system since Tuesday "It is inconvenient as the road has been closed for three days," an 83-year-old man who lives near the site said "I also do not know how much I should refrain from using the sewage system." Local authorities have called on residents within a 200-meter radius of the area to evacuate with around 20 people sheltering in a nearby middle school as of Thursday morning Water in sinkhole near Tokyo hampers efforts to save man Large sinkhole swallows truck near Tokyo, man trapped A 74-year-old truck driver fell into a sinkhole that appeared at a prefectural road intersection in Yashio City Initially 10 meters (33 ft) wide and 5 meters deep the hole merged with another opening nearby the massive crater measured 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep Large amounts of water from a drainage pipe and soil continue to flow into the hole The surrounding area remains highly unstable The recent sinkhole is believed to have been caused by an underground sewer pipe located about 10 meters below the surface a drainage pipe about 2 meters underground channels rainwater and runoff into the area Road collapses have been occurring more frequently across Japan with over 10% linked to sewer system issues Local governments are struggling to replace aging sewer pipes but progress has been slow due to high costs.  Japan's infrastructure ministry has requested an emergency inspection of large sewer pipes connected to major sewage treatment facilities similar to those involved in the Saitama road collapse hydrogen sulfide from human waste and other substances in the sewer pipes likely reacted with air to form sulfuric acid The acid gradually corroded the concrete pipes Soil then began flowing into the broken sections a routine inspection conducted in fiscal year 2021 determined that immediate repairs were not necessary approximately 10,000 sinkholes occurred nationwide in fiscal year 2022 Sewer-related collapses tend to be more common in cities Japan's sewer system expanded rapidly during the country's economic boom The standard service life of concrete sewer pipes is 50 years Older urban areas that implemented sewer systems earlier are now experiencing severe deterioration a sinkhole appeared at an intersection on Chuo-Odori Avenue in Chuo Ward The collapse created a hole about 1 meter (3.3 ft) in diameter and 1.3 meters deep Investigations revealed that a sewer pipe installed in 1954 had been damaged allowing water to leak and erode the surrounding soil The pipe had not undergone regular inspections since its installation Japan had a total of approximately 490,000 kilometers of sewer pipes only about 7% have exceeded their service life but this proportion is expected to surge to 40% in the next 20 years Maintaining and managing sewer pipes is extremely costly revenue from sewer usage fees is not expected to increase making it difficult to replace aging pipes quickly the city owns the sewer pipes but outsources maintenance and management to a private company with the costs fully funded by the municipality The city also replaces approximately 55 kilometers of its 5,000-kilometer sewer network each year.  "To prevent waste from accumulating inside sewer pipes we adjust pipe gradients during replacements We also use cameras for inspections rather than relying solely on service life estimates to mitigate risks." some municipalities have recently begun using artificial intelligence to assess pipe deterioration Author: Fumiya Suzuki with additional data from The Sankei Shimbun You must be logged in to post a comment A truck driver has spent more than 24 hours trapped under a sinkhole in Japan that swallowed his vehicle in the greater Tokyo area The crater formed at a busy intersection in the city of Yashio Monday at around 10 a.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) and is estimated to be 32 feet wide and 16 feet deep, according to NBC News Motohiro Ono said at a news briefing that rescuing the driver is the primary objective Officials no longer able to communicate with driverYashio City Police told NHK that the investigation into the sinkhole is ongoing and that rescuers have not been able to speak with the trapped truck driver Eight hours following the collapse, the man remained trapped inside his truck due to the driver's seat being filled with sand and mud, Nippon TV station reported Anthony Robledo is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY Reach him at arobledo@usatoday.com and follow him on X and Instagram @anthonyarobledo Rescue personnel continued efforts to clear debris in an expanding sinkhole near Tokyo on Friday in the hope of saving a man trapped as the crucial 72-hour threshold of survival passed Preparations continued to install a ramp leading into the sinkhole now measuring around 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep so that machinery can be brought in to clear debris and reach the imperiled 74-year-old truck driver All we can do is proceed with the operation," a rescuer from a local fire department said The hole has widened continuously since Tuesday when it appeared at an intersection in Yashio Authorities are also dealing with the possibility that the sinkhole is filling up with river water backflowing in from a damaged underground rain pipe Local authorities said they are working with a construction contractor to excavate space for the roughly 30-meter-long ramp leading into the sinkhole from the parking lot of a nearby restaurant Once the ramp is complete and equipment brought in has cleared the rubble rescuers will venture into the sinkhole to search for the man But it may still take another two or three days until the ramp's completion adding that rescue personnel may enter the sinkhole even sooner depending on the conditions The sinkhole first appeared on Tuesday morning the two later merged and the opening has continued to expand Residents of nearby homes have been told to evacuate Sinkholes near Tokyo merge, man still trapped on 3rd day National Report Repair work for all damage caused by a sinkhole in Yashio where a trucker remains trapped underground could take until the end of the year to complete The Saitama prefectural government has allocated 4 billion yen ($26 million) in the fiscal 2024 supplementary budget to repair the ruptured sewage pipe that caused the sinkhole rebuild collapsed parts of the intersection Officials plan to accelerate restoration efforts once the missing truck driver is rescued The driver is believed to be trapped in the cabin of his truck that is stuck inside the 4.75-meter-wide broken sewage pipe Prefectural officials said it could take up to three months to rescue him Officials announced plans to install a large bypass to divert wastewater away from the sinkhole site Workers will use heavy machinery to dig a 10-meter-deep hole to reach the pipe and then lift the truck cabin and the driver to the surface emergency repairs will begin on the damaged sewage pipe Workers will backfill the collapsed road and repave it Depending on the extent of damage to the sewage pipe a temporary drainage pipe built to divert water away from the accident site may remain in use Although it will take some time to finish the rescue and repair work 1.2 million residents in the eastern part of the prefecture received some relief on Feb The prefectural government lifted its request for residents in 12 municipalities to voluntarily reduce wastewater flowing into the broken sewage pipe Officials said the temporary drainage pipe and other measures are now as effective as the wastewater reduction efforts “I appreciate everyone’s cooperation,” Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono said on the afternoon of Feb “We will show our gratitude by doing everything possible to ensure a swift rescue and restoration.” The request to reduce wastewater discharge lasted two weeks “I had never really thought about the sewage system before,” said a 78-year-old woman living near the Yashio city government office but they made me realize how essential it is.” Saitama Prefecture also lifted its request for 66 companies that receive industrial water from surrounding basins to voluntarily limit their usage The request was made because many of these companies discharge wastewater into sewage pipes near the sinkhole The voluntary restrictions significantly impacted businesses The Higashi-Kanto Namakon cooperative association which consists of ready-mixed concrete manufacturers in Yashio and Soka cities in Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo’s Adachi Ward said a shortage of essential water for production prevented them from fulfilling orders The cooperative association worked with other manufacturers to outsource production “It was challenging since each company had its own production schedule.” Water supply remains suspended for companies near the sinkhole and one company said it has been using a tank car to collect water from a purification plant Governor: Three months needed to rescue trucker from sinkhole Likely truck cabin found in sewage pipe at Saitama sinkhole Authorities in Saitama Prefecture are shifting the search for a missing 74-year-old man whose truck was engulfed by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio last month from the sinkhole itself to a sewer pipe where part of the driver's seat of the fallen truck was found Firefighters resumed search operations with heavy machinery Sunday morning after a several-day suspension due to water leaking into the hole While water levels had decreased by Sunday morning water began flowing back into the hole shortly after forcing authorities to halt operations after about 30 minutes media reported.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); no clues to the missing driver's whereabouts were found in the hole authorities have decided to stop the search within the sinkhole due to concerns for the rescuers' safety Firefighters are now considering alternative search methods including entering the sewer pipes through manholes But as hydrogen sulfide can fill sewer pipes and present a danger to rescuers authorities are considering safe ways to operate The incident occurred on the morning of Jan when a section of the road at an intersection in Yashio caved in causing a passing truck to plunge into the hole While a piece believed to be part of the driver's seat of the fallen truck was discovered last week inside a sewer pipe about 100 to 200 meters downstream from the site A rescue operation is underway for a 74-year-old truck driver who was driving a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole in Yashio city a second sinkhole opened nearby while rescue workers were trying to retrieve him '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Authorities are still struggling to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver who has been trapped in a massive sinkhole in eastern Saitama Prefecture since Jan complicating the rescue efforts.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); “It may take more time to rescue (the individual) and restore (the roads)," Saitama Gov Motohiro Ono said at the beginning of a task force meeting open to media on Sunday evening 29 were trying to retrieve the driver of a 2-ton truck that fell into a sinkhole at a prefectural road intersection here The sinkhole is about 10 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep and water likely from a broken sewer pipe was seeping in according to the Soka Police Station of the Saitama prefectural police causing the road to collapse in the Yashio 2-chome district another cave-in occurred near the original site at 1:10 a.m while a crane was being used to pull out the truck Concerned about dangers from a gas pipe running underground in the area police have called on residents within a 200-meter radius to evacuate Yashio city opened an evacuation center in a municipal government building and about 150 residents have sought shelter there The truck bed was pulled out before dawn on Jan but he did not respond when firefighters called out to him in the evening A 4.75-meter diameter sewage pipe runs about 10.6 meters deep at the accident site The sinkhole “probably happened because the sewer pipe burst,” Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono said on Jan and the driver’s seat of the truck was submerged The fire department was forced to halt the rescue operation to drain the water The prefectural government used a drone to check the hollow part inside the sinkhole and radar to examine the underground conditions as a safety measure while vacuum trucks removed water from the hole The rescue operation restarted around 4 p.m after workers on a ladder truck checked the water level and determined it was low enough The accident likely blocked other sewage pipes and the prefectural government notified 12 cities and towns in the eastern part of the prefecture to restrict the use of sewage systems on the morning of Jan An estimated 1.2 million people have been affected a visual inspection confirmed corrosion in some parts of the pipe but it was determined that repairs were not necessary The prefectural government’s sewage operation division believes the water flow became restricted in the corroded pipe and sulfuric acid generated by the decay of organic substances in the sewage caused the pipe to burst The site is 1.3 kilometers north of Yashio Station (This article was written by Shun Tsunekawa and Masahide Miyajima.) Water-supply restoration could take years in quake-hit cities Bomb fragments discovered at Miyazaki Airport after explosion Safer method for disposing of ordnance being used in Okinawa Buffer zone for Kishida speech failed to foil pipe bomb attack 19,000 homes remain without water 2 months after Noto quake base deemed at fault for high levels of PFOS in Okinawa sewage Copyright © The Asahi Shimbun Company. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission. Cave-ins at sinkhole in Yashio city make area highly unstable I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Efforts to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver from a sinkhole in the Japanese city of Yashio were suspended again on Thursday after cave-ins made the area unstable The sinkhole, which opened on 28 January in Saitama prefecture, swallowed the 1,800kg vehicle, trapping the truck driver. Rescuers initially heard the driver responding, but lost contact soon after. On Thursday, authorities said further cave-ins at the sinkhole had made the area highly unstable. The Straits Times reported that efforts to retrieve the driver were suspended soon after. The initial collapse occurred at 9.50am local time on 28 January, creating a chasm 5m wide and 10m deep, according to The Japan Times. Another sinkhole appeared in Yashio on Thursday after wastewater from a ruptured sewage pipe flooded the first one. This sparked further collapses, taking down a utility pole and a restaurant signboard. The original sinkhole was likely caused by a burst sewer pipe under the road. The two sinkholes eventually merged, creating a crater 20m wide and complicating the rescue operation. The expanded sinkhole also contains a gas pipeline, raising concerns about a potential leak and forcing the evacuation of nearly 200 households in the area. It was reported on Thursday that authorities had asked 1.2 million people across 12 cities and towns in the eastern part of Saitama prefecture to limit showers and laundry use in an effort to ease pressure on the sewer system. “Putting our first priority on saving the person’s life, we are asking residents to refrain from non-essential use of water such as taking a bath or doing laundry,” a Saitama prefecture official told AFP on Thursday. “Using toilets is difficult to refrain from, but we are asking to use less water as much as possible.” Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Rescuers work to save a driver after his truck was swallowed by a sinkhole in Yashio city, Japan, on 29 January 2025 The infrastructure ministry has announced a nationwide survey of aging sewer pipe systems following the recent road collapse in Yashio The inspection will cover 5,000 kilometers of sewer pipes across all 47 prefectures focusing on those with a diameter of at least two meters and in service for 30 years or more Approximately 500 local governments and organizations will be tasked with inspecting their local sewer pipe systems either by workers visually or through cameras Priority will be given to 1,000 km of pipes that are prone to corrosion or are located in similar structural and underground conditions as the Yashio site Local officials are asked to report on these priority inspections by the summer with reports on the remaining sites due within a year The decision follows a recommendation from an expert panel aimed at preventing a recurrence of the road collapse in January a ruptured sewer pipe caused the road above to crumble on Jan creating a sinkhole approximately 40 meters long and 15 meters deep A truck driver who was swallowed by the hole remans missing A smaller-scale inspection across seven prefectures identified several locations with damaged sewer pipes or underground gaps that require attention the Cabinet approved 9.9 billion yen ($66.2 million) from the reserve funds of the fiscal 2024 budget to support local governments in the planned sewer inspection An additional 4.5 billion yen will be allocated to Saitama Prefecture to aid recovery efforts following the road cave-in Decayed sewer pipes found under roads at 3 sites in Saitama Inspection scam attempts surge nationwide after Saitama sinkhole EDITORIAL: Yashio’s sinkhole shows the urgent need to fix aging infrastructure A slope was completed Saturday for using heavy machinery in the search for a male truck driver trapped in a sinkhole that appeared Tuesday in the city of Yashio Firefighters will now launch a full-scale effort to find the 74-year-old driver as soon as preparations are made.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); 30-meter-long slope was constructed while spraying lime to solidify the soil as the ground at the site is soft the surface of a prefectural road collapsed at an intersection Damage was found in the upper part of an underground sewer pipe with a diameter of 4.7 meters while water began to flow from another pipe according to the Saitama prefectural government the maximum width and depth of the hole reached about 40 meters and about 15 meters the prefectural government continues to ask a total of about 1.2 million residents in 12 municipalities to refrain from using sewage systems It has also begun to discharge sewage water into the river as well as water for dilution to prevent water quality deterioration It has been one month since a sinkhole appeared at the intersection of a prefectural road in Yashio A passing truck fell into the hole when it appeared and the 74-year-old driver has still not been found Saitama created a committee comprising experts to investigate the cause of the sinkhole and create a plan for restoration work but with efforts to find the driver expected to take about three months there is no concrete timeline in place on when such work can begin.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); 28 when the central part of an intersection collapsed As part of the search for the truck driver who fell in the prefecture sent a drone into a sewage pipe in the sinkhole SAITAMA—A drone sent into a sewage pipe below a sinkhole at an intersection in Yashio city detected what appears to be a truck cabin The object is about 3 meters tall and located about 100 to 200 meters downstream from the site where the road caved in on Jan It was half-submerged in flowing sewage water inside the 4.75-meter-diameter pipe sand and other sediments upstream of the presumed truck cabin The officials suspect the sewage water being forced through a rupture on the upper portion of the pipe is filling up the sinkhole Ono said he has requested Defense Minister Gen Nakatani to consider what the Self-Defense Forces can do in the rescue effort “There are many challenges to overcome at the site which has maintained a constant level of concentration,” the governor said The prefectural government has begun studying new methods to rescue the truck driver in cooperation with firefighters and SDF members It also plans to lower the water level inside the pipe by drawing sewage water from manholes upstream of the cave-in A second ramp leading to the sinkhole was completed on Feb The prefectural government plans to dismantle an underground concrete pipe that could fall from the upper part of the sinkhole before removing the debris (This article was written by Shun Nakamura and Sokichi Kuroda.) Saitama Prefecture—The rescue operation for a truck driver trapped in a sinkhole at an intersection here continues to be hampered by the increasing instability of the site Additional cave-ins have expanded the size of the original sinkhole and water continues to flow into the area when a 2-ton truck fell into the 10-meter-deep pit The driver in his 70s remains stuck inside the vehicle Firefighters resumed the rescue operation around noon on Jan the driver’s side of the truck was not visible because it was buried under earth the firefighters plan to build a ramp on the road using cranes and other equipment and use it for heavy machinery that can remove earth The situation has been precarious since the start another cave-in occurred near the original hole at 1:10 a.m Rescue efforts were halted as local firefighters with support from the Tokyo Fire Department and other agencies they restarted the rescue operation and removed collapsible areas around the sinkholes with excavators the road section between the two sinkholes crumbled and the collapsed part connected the two sinkholes to form one larger one The rescue work was again halted while firefighters conducted safety checks and performed other tasks Firefighting officials said they have been unable to confirm the size of the current hole The cause of the sinkhole is believed to be a burst sewer pipe running beneath the prefectural road The Saitama prefectural government conducted an emergency discharge of sewage into a river at around 11 p.m 29 to reduce the flow to the sinkhole area The flow rate in sewer pipes in Yashio had increased and prefectural government officials feared water could overflow again at the site The discharged sewage underwent minimal treatment at a pumping station in Kasukabe in the prefecture but did not pass through a sewage treatment plant The river where the sewage was released is not used for water supplies The prefectural government continues to ask about 1.2 million people in 12 cities and towns in the eastern part of the prefecture to ease pressure on the sewage system by limiting their use of water in bathing and doing laundry Evacuees build bonfires to stay warm in Noto quake aftermath Efforts to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver trapped in a massive sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture have stalled as worsening ground conditions complicate operations and there has been little progress in freeing the man whose truck was swallowed when the road gave way Tuesday morning.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Tuesday at a busy intersection in the city of Yashio creating a hole approximately 5 meters wide and 10 meters deep Witnesses reported that the ground collapsed moments before the truck drove over the area sending the vehicle plummeting into the chasm Jan 28, 2025 1:22 PM ESTAn enormous sinkhole the size of a swimming pool swallowed up a truck with the driver still inside at a busy intersection in Japan this week The intersection where the sinkhole occurred is lined with restaurants and local businesses and sits less than a mile from Yashio City Hall Local media reported that the driver was still trapped inside the vehicle nearly eight hours after the collapse Rescue efforts were hampered by the driver’s seat being filled with sand and mud and the front end of the truck stuck in dirt Firefighters have deployed various crane and ropes however the rescue operation is said to be dangerous due to the fragile walls of the sinkhole Rescue teams had been pumping oxygen into the hole the driver was reportedly "conscious and capable" of communicating with police it was reported that rescuers were no longer able to speak with him authorities have shut down roads in the area out of precaution in the event of additional collapses Added another bystander who was on his way to lunch when it happened: "I drive this road all the time. Now I don't know if it's even safe to use anymore." Officials are said to be investigating the cause of the sinkhole, which is still unknown. Though, it's believed that underground pipes, recent weather, or construction may have contributed. "It is thought to have been caused by a crack in the Nakagawa River Basin sewer pipe. As a result of this collapse, a passing truck fell in," said Saitama's governor Motohiro Ono at a press briefing on Tuesday, adding that rescuing the driver was the primary initiative. By Stacey Ritzen is a Breaking/Trending News Writer at Men's Journal Saturday marked over 100 hours since the sinkhole appeared at an intersection in Yashio There is still no information of the truck driver who became trapped in the sinkhole after his truck fell in please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent anywhere within a 200 meters radius from the sinkhole has been designated as warning zone and temporary shelters have been set up for local residents The city also calls for limiting the use of sewage system which had been suspended in some areas of the city Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun Firefighters said they ended Sunday their search inside a sinkhole near Tokyo for a man whose truck was swallowed by it nearly two weeks ago with attention set to switch to an underground sewage pipe Rescuers were unable to find a trace of the 74-year-old driver remaining in the sinkhole which appeared at an intersection in Yashio firefighters deployed heavy machinery using a ramp leading into the sinkhole and started work to remove mud and rubble but they were forced to suspend work due to fears of a further collapse The prefectural government has said the man could be somewhere in the sewage pipe after what appears to be a truck's cabin was found in the pipe some 100 to 200 meters away from the sinkhole on Wednesday The sinkhole has widened continuously since it first appeared It merged with another hole that formed nearby and now measure around 40 meters wide and up to 15 meters deep a nationwide emergency inspection of sewer pipes discovered corrosion and other abnormalities in three locations in the prefecture six cavities under roads were found in the prefecture as well as elsewhere the infrastructure ministry reported on Feb The ministry said these underground spaces were not caused by deteriorating sewer pipes The ministry said that none of these anomalies or cavities are likely to lead to a large-scale sinkhole The three areas where anomalies were found are in sewer pipes leading to the Shingashigawa river water circulation center in Wako The pipes were found to be misaligned and the inner walls of the manholes were corroded and earth and sand could flow into the pipes creating cavities and triggering a cave-in The Saitama prefectural government has already begun taking countermeasures Two cavities were found in Saitama and Nara prefectures Two additional underground spaces were found in locations in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture All six cavities were in need of emergency repair The latest emergency inspections covered approximately 420 kilometers of large-scale sewer conduits in seven prefectures—Tokyo Hyogo and Nara—which are similar to the one in Yashio where the sinkhole occurred The inspections also covered roads where these sewer conduits are buried The municipalities that manage them visually inspected the underside of about 1,700 manholes in those sewer lines and also inspected under the surface of the manholes with cameras Electromagnetic waves were used to detect empty spaces under roads The results were reported to the ministry by Feb The ministry also announced that the first meeting of a panel of experts to study measures to prevent a recurrence of the Yashio cave-in will be held on Feb “We will thoroughly study and implement the necessary measures to ensure safety and security based on the panel’s discussions,” infrastructure minister Hiromasa Nakano said at a news conference on Feb The sewerage law requires that sewer pipes at a high risk of corrosion be inspected at least once every five years The scope of inspections is determined by local governments 3,463 km of the total 490,000 km of sewer pipes are subject to such inspections and Osaka Prefecture and Hokkaido (163 km each) the sewer pipe passing through the cave-in site in Yashio was not subject to the requirement the prefectural government said it voluntarily inspected the sewer pipe in fiscal 2021 The prefectural government also said it has voluntarily inspected all sewer pipes under its jurisdiction once every five years Saitama budgets 4 billion yen for repair work at Yashio sinkhole The sinkholes are believed to be due to a broken pipe under the road The ground between the two sinkholes that had already opened in a prefectural road in Yashio collapsed early on Thursday morning to make an even larger hole YASHIO – the space between the two sinkholes that had already opened in a prefectural road in Yashio collapsed early on Thursday morning and expanded into an even larger hole It is estimated to be more than 20 meters in diameter the driver of a truck that fell in the hole but firefighters and others were preparing to renew their efforts The prefectural government has called on residents of 12 cities and towns in the eastern part of the prefecture through their respective local governments to refrain from washing clothes and taking baths About 1.2 million people are subject to the notice The prefectural government has been sucking up the sewage and discharging it into another sewer pipe they also began emergency discharge from a pumping station in Kasukabe The damaged sewer pipe was 4.75 meters in diameter and made of concrete The service life of concrete is usually 50 years Visual inspections are conducted once every five years determined that “no immediate repairs [were] required” for the pipe that may have caused this incident The prefecture believes that hydrogen sulfide was the cause Sewage flowing through sewer pipes contains organic matter such as excrement and kitchen waste bacterial activity produces hydrogen sulfide from organic matter,” said Hiroaki Morita a professor at Nihon University’s Civil Engineering Department Morita also said that hydrogen sulfide changes into sulfuric acid when it comes into contact with air in the pipes and corrodes the concrete Road subsidence frequently occurs throughout Japan for which the presence of underground cavities is one cause occur on national and municipal roads nationwide every year About 40% of these were caused by broken gutters and storm drains sewer line damage was the most common cause at 30% Japanese rescuers suspend search for truck driver who plunged into sinkhole days ago 20m-wide sinkhole in Japan: 1.2 million asked to refrain from doing laundry and taking baths was initially conscious but became unresponsive on Tuesday evening A large sinkhole appeared at a busy intersection in a Japanese city on Tuesday swallowing a rubbish truck and trapping its driver inside The incident took place in Yashio at around 10am local time Saitama prefecture governor Motohiro Ono said The crater measured about 32ft wide and 16ft deep “It is thought to have been caused by a crack in the Nakagawa River Basin sewer pipe,” Mr Ono said on Tuesday The Mainichi reported that sediment likely flowed into the heavily corroded pipe which collapsed under the weight of passing vehicles Nearly 30 hours after the collapse, the driver remained trapped in the vehicle as sand and mud filled his seat, according to Japan’s Nippon TV Rescue workers were reportedly pumping air into the hole to supply oxygen to the 74-year-old driver The driver was initially conscious but on Tuesday evening became unresponsive The Asahi Shimbun reported that due to concerns over a gas pipe running underground, police urged residents living within a 200-metre radius of the sinkhole to evacuate The Yashio city administration had set up an evacuation centre in a municipal building where some 150 people were now sheltering Aerial footage showed at least 12 fire trucks at the scene in Yashio, north of the capital Tokyo Police were reported to be investigating the cause of the accident The rescue team managed to remove the truck bed before dawn on Wednesday but had to suspend their work after 1pm local time as the sinkhole became unstable, CBS News reported. By Wednesday morning, water had begun accumulating in the sinkhole, submerging the truck’s driver’s seat, The Asahi Shimbun reported. Firefighters were forced to suspend the rescue operation to drain out the water. As of 3.30pm local time, the operation had yet to resume. Authorities were using drones and radar to assess the sinkhole’s interior and underground conditions while vacuum trucks were reportedly removing water. The collapse also likely blocked other sewage pipes, prompting restrictions in 12 cities and towns. Japanese media said that around 1.2 million people had been affected. The incident sparked concerns about the condition of local public infrastructure. “I noticed a concrete wall on the side of the hole and when I checked the old map, I found it had been a waterway before. It looks like the waterway had been covered up and a road built over it, and the roof of the culvert had collapsed,” a user called “kaishi” wrote on X. In the past decade, several sinkholes have appeared across Japan. In September 2024, a sinkhole in Hiroshima was caused by a burst underground water pipe. In 2016, Fukuoka experienced a massive sinkhole, about 98ft wide and 50ft deep, that swallowed five road lanes. Firefighters work to rescue a truck driver after his vehicle was swallowed up by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio, Japan, on 28 January 2025 Authorities in Saitama Prefecture announced Wednesday that they have discovered what appears to be the cabin of a truck inside a sewer pipe downstream from the site of a road collapse that swallowed the vehicle last week the truck’s 74-year-old driver remained missing as of Thursday morning The search has continued to be challenging due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide and fast-flowing sewage water inside the pipe according to prefectural officials quoted by NHK.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); A drone probe was deployed after officials suspected an obstruction in the sewer system It located a deformed white metal mass about 100 meters downstream from the collapse site A massive sinkhole engulfed a truck at a Saitama prefectural road intersection on Tuesday morning trapping the driver and triggering an extensive rescue operation the collapse occurred at approximately 9:50 a.m creating a chasm about 5 meters wide and 10 meters deep Witnesses reported that the ground gave way just moments before the truck drove into the area causing the vehicle to plummet into the hole according to NHK.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Firefighters deployed a crane in a bid to rescue the 74-year-old driver While initial efforts to free him stretched into the night a nearby section of the road caved in at around 1 a.m Wednesday — roughly 15 hours after the incident — causing utility poles to sink and restaurant signs to fall In their bid to rescue a 74-year-old man trapped in a sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture rescue crews are preparing to deploy heavy machinery to stabilize the site when a sinkhole suddenly opened at a busy intersection The initial hole measured about 5 meters wide and 10 meters deep but intermittent cave-ins have since expanded it dramatically.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); local fire officials said the sinkhole had grown to approximately 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep Saitama Prefecture--Residents and businesses in eastern Saitama Prefecture were again asked to make sacrifices concerning water use as the rescue operation for a trucker buried in a sinkhole continues facing hurdles The biggest problem for rescue workers is the constant flow of water that keeps filling the hole and has made the surrounding ground unstable raising the risk of additional cave-ins at the intersection Firefighters have built a ramp that leads into the sinkhole But rescue teams were unable to enter the hole on Feb 2 to rescue the truck driver or repair the ruptured and leaking sewage pipe that is believed to have caused the sinkhole 2 called on more than 1 million residents in the prefecture to refrain from draining or flushing sewage water the sixth daily request since the truck and its driver in his 70s fell into the sinkhole on the morning of Jan “It is highly likely that more time will be needed for rescue and restoration,” Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono said at a prefectural government meeting on the evening of Feb “Thanks to the cooperation of 1.2 million residents and businesses in 12 cities and towns but the problem has not yet been resolved.” Ono had said earlier that the request to limit water use could be lifted after the ruptured pipe is repaired The truck cabin was buried under soil and sand on Feb 2 and could not be seen with the naked eye have been scooping up and taking away earth and sand from the sinkhole on the newly built ramp since the morning of Feb They have also been placing sandbags in the area to slow the water inflow But with light rain falling intermittently sewage and groundwater kept flowing in and accumulating inside the hole The prefecture and the fire department plan to lower the water level using drainage pump vehicles and to extend the ramp The rupture in the sewer pipe is located about 10 meters deep at a key point of the 120-kilometer-long pipe that connects the 12 cities and towns in eastern Saitama Prefecture water overflows from the top of the broken pipe The entire sewage system is not out of service and toilets and baths still work in the 12 cities and towns Cooperation from residents and businesses has helped to reduce the overflow from the pipe a Chinese restaurant in Saitama city’s Iwatsuki Ward said she has been washing dishes less frequently and cleaning them in batches as much as possible A public bathhouse in the same ward has shortened its opening hours by 90 minutes since Jan but we want to provide at least the minimum level of cooperation,” said a woman in her 70s who runs the bathhouse A company worker in his 50s living in Soka He and his family went to a bathing facility in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward instead the family has been using paper plates and cups to reduce the amount of tableware to wash “We want to cooperate with the rescue efforts as much as we can but we are worried about how long we will be able to continue this lifestyle,” he said (This article was written by Naoto Inagaki and Satoru Ito.) It could take at least two to three years to repair a sewer rupture found after a road collapsed in Yashio according to the head of a prefectural panel studying the repairs said that such a period would be necessary if the entire sewer needs to be replaced citing the possibility that the sewer is severely corroded inside.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); created a sinkhole into which a truck fell Search efforts are underway for the 74-year-old driver Morita cited corrosion in the sewer caused by sulfuric acid from sewage-derived hydrogen sulfide and a gap in the sewer's joints caused by the weight of vehicles on the road or an earthquake Hydrogen sulfide could easily be generated in the sewer as its uneven internal structure causes sewage to be churned a professor at Nihon University who specializes in sewer engineering An inspection by the prefectural government in fiscal 2021 found that it did not need immediate repair Noting that it usually takes a long time for a sewer to develop a hole Morita said he does not believe that a huge hole appeared in the years after the inspection we need to find out why it was broken," he said A truck fell into a sinkhole about 5 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep at an intersection on Tuesday in Yashio A man is believed to have been driving the truck and firefighters and others are currently conducting rescue operations according to a local fire department and police A male witness made an emergency call to authorities at around 9:50 a.m “The road caved in and a vehicle like a dump truck fell into it.” which is about 1.5 kilometers north of Tsukuba Express Yashio Station is lined with restaurants and other businesses Saitama Prefecture—An object believed to be a missing driver was detected in a truck cabin stuck in a ruptured sewage pipe that caused a sinkhole here 11 announced the possible sighting of the trucker and explained the prefectural government’s rescue plan The trucker in his 70s has been trapped underground since Jan when his vehicle plunged into the newly formed sinkhole at an intersection in Yashio continues to swiftly flow around the cabin and high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide are believed to be present Ono said workers will build a large-scale bypass system upstream of the cabin to allow the water in the pipe to flow away from the driver’s seat He also said they will use excavators and other heavy machinery at ground level to dig a hole to the cabin The cabin and the driver would then be lifted to the surface through the hole The rescue work will “take about three months but it is the fastest way to rescue,” Ono said The truck cabin was found earlier by a drone inside the sewage pipe about 30 meters downstream from the sinkhole determined that an object in the cabin is likely the missing truck driver 12 lifted its request to 1.2 million residents in 12 cities and towns in eastern parts of the prefecture to refrain from using the sewage system The request was made on the first day of the accident to reduce the flow of water into the ruptured sewage pipe Prefectural government officials said sewage water levels at the sinkhole had been reduced sufficiently by pumping up water upstream and releasing it into a river They also said construction of a bypass has diverted some of the sewage away from the accident site These measures “are estimated to have the same effect as the water usage restrictions,” Ono said 11 said the Disaster Relief Law would be applied to the sinkhole accident The central government and the prefecture will cover all the costs that the city of Yashio has paid including expenses to set up an evacuation center A Japanese government panel agreed Thursday to promote digital transformation to tackle the aging of public infrastructure This followed a high-profile road collapse incident in Yashio which is believed to have been caused by a broken sewage pipe.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); At a meeting of the digital administrative and fiscal reform panel instructed related officials to urgently work on the use of digital technologies for water and sewage systems to ensure that their operations by local governments are sustainable He called for introducing such technologies within about three years against the previous deadline of five years satellites and artificial intelligence systems will be used to collect and analyze data on temperature geology and other factors to identify areas where water leaks may occur Drones will be employed for inspections inside water pipes in order to find spots requiring repairs early Ishiba also announced a plan to establish a public-private team to discuss how to develop AI data centers and power infrastructure in an integrated way Details will be worked out as early as June The Saitama prefectural government plans to set aside about ¥1 billion to cover the costs of a search for the 74-year-old male truck driver whose truck fell in a sinkhole in a prefectural road in Yashio The funds will come from an unused portion of this fiscal year’s sewage-related budget The condition of the driver remains unknown Work has continued at the site of the sinkhole throughout the night since Jan Two ramps have been constructed to allow heavy machinery to enter the hole and an agricultural canal in danger of collapsing has been removed About ¥1 billion will be used to pay for these operations the prefectural government has decided to submit a supplementary budget proposal to the prefectural assembly that includes ¥4 billion for immediate restoration work The money is expected to be used for the construction of a bypass to be used on the sewer pipe where the driver’s seat remains Full-scale restoration of the roads and sewers will begin after the search for the driver ends The total cost of the work is still unknown but prefectural officials estimate it will reach tens of billions of yen A sinkhole in the city of Yashio caused by a ruptured underground drainage pipe underscores the growing risk posed by Japan’s aging water infrastructure The ground underneath an intersection in Yashio caved in on Tuesday morning initially 5 meters wide and 10 meters deep expanded to 40 meters in width and 15 meters in depth following several subsequent collapses according to fire department officials quoted by Jiji Press Work to rescue the driver is ongoing.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Damaged wastewater pipes caused 2,600 sinkholes in the year from April 2022 though most of them were less than 50 centimeters deep The government convened a panel of experts on Wednesday to draft a new national resilience plan with a focus on accelerating repairs and upgrades to water and sewer pipelines throughout Japan The move comes after a sinkhole appeared in the city of Yashio which is believed to have been caused by a damaged sewer pipe a 74-year-old truck driver who was driving over the road when it collapsed remains trapped inside the 15-meter-deep hole googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); set to conclude in fiscal 2025 that ends in March next year allocates about ¥15 trillion ($97.9 billion) to infrastructure projects aimed at strengthening disaster resilience Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced in a Jan Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division.