TOKYO — A truck and its driver were swallowed by a sinkhole the size of a large swimming pool that appeared at a busy intersection in the Japanese city of Yashio on Tuesday.
The crater, about 32 feet wide and 16 feet deep, appeared about 10 a.m. local time (8 p.m. ET Monday), Motohiro Ono, governor of the Saitama prefecture, said at a media briefing Tuesday.
“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,” he said, adding that the main focus was rescuing the driver.
Almost eight hours after the collapse, the man was still trapped inside the vehicle due to the driver’s seat being filled with sand and mud, according to the Nippon TV station, which reported that rescue teams were pumping air into the hole to give the driver oxygen.
Aerial footage from the broadcaster showed at least 12 fire trucks were on the scene in the city, which sits to the north of Japan's capital, Tokyo.
Police told NHK that an investigation into what caused the sinkhole was underway. The driver was still conscious and capable of talking to the police earlier in the day, but the broadcaster later reported that rescuers could no longer communicate with him.
The busy intersection, lined with restaurants and local businesses, is less than a mile away from Yashio City Hall.
Images of the widening crater sparked concerns and questions about local infrastructure among social media users who deliberated over the cause of the road collapse.
“I noticed a concrete wall on the side of the hole, and when I checked the old map, I found that 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,” one user, who identified themselves as “kaishi,” wrote on X.
There have been several incidents involving sinkholes in Japan in recent years.
In September, a sinkhole in the city of Hiroshima appeared after an underground water pipe burst and the road had caved in. Several people trapped in buildings were rescued by the fire department.
In 2016, another giant sinkhole, about 98 feet wide and 50 feet deep, suddenly appeared in the Japanese city of Fukuoka and swallowed five road lanes before it was flooded. The incident caught the world's attention as Japanese workmen repaired the road within a matter of days.
Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo and Astha Rajvanshi from London.