Truck Cabin Spotted Two Weeks After Road Subsidence in Japan, Driver Possibly Inside

Since January 28, rescue workers have been trying to find a 74-year-old man who plunged his truck into a chasm that suddenly opened up under his wheels north of the Japanese capital.

"Experts analyzed photos taken with a drone (...) and they said that there is a truck cabin in the photos and that it is not excluded that a person is inside," Tomonori Nakazawa, a fire official, told AFP.

But rescuers cannot enter the sewer line where the truck cab was spotted because of the flow of water and high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas, he said.

A temporary diversion pipeline to stop the flow of water and reach the vehicle must be built, Saitama Prefecture Governor Motohiro Ono said Tuesday, adding that the process could take three months.

The hole in the road, originally five metres in diameter, has continued to widen over the days, merging with a second, larger cavity that appeared nearby: the chasm is currently more than 40 metres wide and 15 metres deep, threatening the surrounding buildings.

These road subsidences are on the rise in Japan, with some 10.000 incidents recorded in 2022, often linked to sewers in urban areas, according to the Ministry of Lands.

According to an estimate by the ministry, 40% of sewer pipes will have exceeded their lifespan in just over 15 years.

Heavy rainfall events, made more frequent by climate change, can worsen failures.