The Japan sink grows to the length of the almost Olympic pool; driver still missing

YashioJapan-The emergency workers in Japan began building a ramp on January 31 to try to reach a 74-year-old truck driver who has not been heard since his vehicle was swallowed by a sink this week.

The cavity has expanded at 40 m wide, almost the length of an Olympic pool, since it opened in a city north of Tokyo on the morning of January 28, authorities said.

The growth hole could be the result of corroded wastewater pipes, according to Yashio authorities.

“It is an extremely dangerous condition,” said Local Chief of Firefighters Tetsuji Sato to journalists on January 30 at the intersection of traffic where dozens of rescuers have been working 24 hours a day.

“We are planning to build a slope (to access the hole) from a safer place so that we can send heavy equipment,” he said.

He added that the groundwater was dripping inside and that the hole “continued digging.”

There has been no communication with the driver since noon on January 28, with land and other debris that now cover the cabin of his truck in Yashio.

Eroded walls

The perforated pipes “potentially allowed the surrounding soil to flow and the space under the ground would be emptied,” Mr. Daisuke Tsutsui, an official of the Saitama prefecture, told the AFP of January 30.

The authorities expected to complete the slope of 30 m on January 31, but a local official said he can take several days.

The operation has been aggravated by the internal walls of the hole, now about 10 m deep, which continues to erode, preventing rescue workers from staying inside it for a long time.

Initially, the hole had about 5 m in diameter, but since then it has been combined with a much larger cavity that was opened during the rescue operation on the night of January 28.

As the sink has expanded, asphalt pieces have occasionally fallen, preventing rescue workers from approaching the abyss.

This has also made dangerous placing heavy machinery nearby.

The 1.2 million people living in the area have been asked to reduce showers and clothing to prevent the waters of wastewater from making the operation difficult.

“The use of bathrooms is difficult to refrain, but we are asking (people) to use less water as much as possible,” said an official.

A little sewer water was collected in the area and released a nearby river to reduce runoff in the hole.

“It feels quite abnormal that the search is taking so long. I wonder if I could have been saved much earlier, ”said Mr. Takuya Koroku, a local factory worker on January 30.

“I’m afraid to go close,” added the 51 -year -old man. AFP

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