Truck driver disappears into swimming pool-sized sinkhole in middle of road

Driver, 74, was initially conscious but became unresponsive on Tuesday evening

Maroosha Muzaffar
Wednesday 29 January 2025 05:35 EST
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Firefighters work to rescue a truck driver after his vehicle was swallowed up by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio, Japan, on 28 January 2025
Firefighters work to rescue a truck driver after his vehicle was swallowed up by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio, Japan, on 28 January 2025 (Getty)

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A large sinkhole appeared at a busy intersection in a Japanese city on Tuesday, swallowing a rubbish truck and trapping its driver inside.

The incident took place in Yashio at around 10am local time, Saitama prefecture governor Motohiro Ono said.

The crater measured about 32ft wide and 16ft deep. “It is thought to have been caused by a crack in the Nakagawa River Basin sewer pipe,” Mr Ono said on Tuesday. “As a result of this collapse, a passing truck fell in.”

The truck reportedly weighed two tonnes.

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 were reportedly pumping air into the hole to supply oxygen to the 74-year-old driver. The driver was initially conscious but on Tuesday evening became unresponsive, according to local media reports.

The Asahi Shimbun reported that due to concerns over a gas pipe running underground, police urged residents living within a 200-metre radius of the sinkhole to evacuate. The Yashio city administration had set up an evacuation centre in a municipal building where some 150 people were now sheltering, an official said.

Aerial footage showed at least 12 fire trucks at the scene in Yashio, north of the capital Tokyo.

Police were reported to be investigating the cause of the accident.

Firefighters work to rescue a truck driver after his vehicle was swallowed up by a sinkhole at a road intersection in Yashio city, Japan, on 28 January 2025
Firefighters work to rescue a truck driver after his vehicle was swallowed up by a sinkhole at a road intersection in Yashio city, Japan, on 28 January 2025 (JIJI Press/AFP via Getty)

The rescue team managed to remove the truck bed before dawn on Wednesday but had to suspend their work after 1pm local time as the sinkhole became unstable, CBS News reported. By Wednesday morning, water had begun accumulating in the sinkhole, submerging the truck’s driver’s seat, The Asahi Shimbun reported. Firefighters were forced to suspend the rescue operation to drain out the water.

As of 3.30pm local time, the operation had yet to resume.

Authorities were using drones and radar to assess the sinkhole’s interior and underground conditions while vacuum trucks were reportedly removing water.

The collapse also likely blocked other sewage pipes, prompting restrictions in 12 cities and towns. Japanese media said that around 1.2 million people had been affected.

The incident sparked concerns about the condition of local public infrastructure.

“I noticed a concrete wall on the side of the hole and when I checked the old map, I found 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,” a user called “kaishi” wrote on X.

In the past decade, several sinkholes have appeared across Japan. In September 2024, a sinkhole in Hiroshima was caused by a burst underground water pipe.

In 2016, Fukuoka experienced a massive sinkhole, about 98ft wide and 50ft deep, that swallowed five road lanes.

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