Three months after his truck plunged into a sinkhole near Tokyo, the body of a 74-year-old driver has been recovered.
In January the three-ton truck fell into a hole that suddenly appeared on the road in Yashio City.
Initial rescue attempts proved unsuccessful, with only the truck’s flatbed retrieved while the driver remained trapped in the cabin. It was believed he had been swept downstream.
After extensive preparations to ensure worker safety, including the construction of an underground pathway, rescuers in helmets and hazmat suits finally reached the targeted area on Friday and recovered the body.
Experts say the Yashio sinkhole was caused by corrosion in sewer pipes. The unsteady ground and a hollow space below it had hampered the rescue, while residents were asked to cut back on water use to minimize sewage water going through the area.
The Mainichi reported that sediment likely flowed into the heavily corroded pipe, laid about 33ft underground, creating a hollow beneath the road, 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 initially heard the driver responding to their calls, but soon lost contact.
A map of Yashio:
Five families living in the vicinity of the sinkhole were told to evacuate as the crater continued to expand, days after swallowing a truck along with its driver. More than a hundred residents living within a 50m radius of the hole had already been moved out in the week incident took place.
The case was a wakeup call about the aging infrastructure in Japan, where most of its main public infrastructure was built during the rapid economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s.
According to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, more than 10,500 sinkholes were found across Japan, many of them related to sewage facilities in urban areas.
Yashio Mayor Shinobu Oyama, in a statement, offered his prayer for the driver and condolences to his family. He pledged to do his utmost for the speedy reconstruction of the damaged road.