Rescue personnel continued efforts to clear debris in an expanding sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture 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.
"We are doing what we think is best. 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 City, and swallowed the truck.
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, they said.
But it may still take another two or three days until the ramp's completion, authorities said, adding that rescue personnel may enter the sinkhole even sooner depending on the conditions.
The sinkhole first appeared on Tuesday morning. After a second hole formed nearby, the two later merged and the opening has continued to expand. Residents of nearby homes have been told to evacuate.
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, according to the prefectural government.
© KYODO
10 Comments
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Fighto!
Full respect to the rescue team doing everything they can - around the clock - in this dangerous operation.
Tragically, it's increasingly looking like the poor truck driver has passed away. I dearly hope to be wrong.
Zaphod
Fighto!
Very likely. What a horrible way to go.
Asiaman7
I found the New York Times article on this topic to be far more informative. Excerpt below.
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The driver was alive immediately after the truck sank into the hole, responding to nearby rescuers, according to the public broadcaster NHK. However, a few hours later, a mudslide inside the hole caused dirt and rubble to fall onto the vehicle, burying it. The man has not responded to subsequent attempts to make contact.
Rescue efforts have been complicated by the fragility of the ground around the hole. A second hole that emerged nearby on Tuesday merged with the first one early Thursday, forming a larger sinkhole. The collapsed area now stretches approximately 65 feet in diameter.
A fire department official said on Thursday that the hole had deepened, and that the front section of the truck, where the driver is believed to be trapped, was no longer visible. “The situation is extremely dangerous, and we can’t send many rescuers,” he said. “We will try to rescue him as soon as possible.”
Firefighters are considering the use of heavy machinery to clear the dirt and debris in order to access the trapped driver. On Wednesday, a large crane was able to lift part of the truck’s cargo bed to the surface, but the driver was not found in that section of the vehicle.
BeerDeliveryGuy
I’m not an expert, and hindsight is 20/20, but I do have expertise in helicopter rappelling, rope extraction, and hoist operations.
Obviously the ground is too unstable for the use of heavy machinery in the vicinity of the hole, but prior to the driver being buried by an underground landslide, it may have been possible to lower a special forces extraction team into the hole with a helicopter hoist or extraction rope.
Depending on the conditions inside the hole, they may not even need to touch the ground.
SwissToni
Too many cables around the sinkhole to allow any descent from a helicopter. They’ve opened the hole up from the side to stabilise the muck, that’s the safest way in. Even if uninjured in the fall it’s very unlikely that a 70 year old can survive beyond three days without water. It’s a tragic situation.
BeerDeliveryGuy
Looking at the photo, and the news on TV, that would definitely be a concern. However, I know a few guys from my former squad who would’ve definitely attempted a hoist extraction, as long as the pilot could hover the chopper steady at 60ft.
SwissToni
Maybe so, but the truck cab is covered so there’s no lifting the driver out without touching the ground. The helicopter would have to maintain super accurate positioning and if it were to be brought down by the cables there would be a much greater tragedy.
BeerDeliveryGuy
I meant before the landslide buried the cabin, and the driver was still responding to phone calls.
Asiaman7
Exactly what I was thinking!
I also noted those multiple power lines. Those could have been removed, but likely not fast enough in those first few hours before the mudslide that buried the vehicle.
But definitely by Day 3 it could have been done by a competent team.
BeerDeliveryGuy
The bird can hover at a safe altitude of at least 10 meters above the cables. If the hoist gets tangled in the cables, the loadmaster can cut the hoist loose.