Japan’s Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes

Officials say corroded sewerage pipes created the sinkhole that is now 40m wide and 15m deep. PHOTO: REUTERS

UPDATED Feb 04, 2025, 06:29 PM

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TOKYO - A massive sinkhole near Tokyo that swallowed a truck and its driver a week ago, and has filled with sewage and debris, highlights the risk posed by Japan’s ageing pipes.

Emergency workers have been striving in vain to reach the 74-year-old man rescuers have had no contact with for a week, and who was likely buried under sediment and sewage water in the sinkhole in the city of Yashio.

Officials say corroded sewerage pipes created the sinkhole that is now 40m wide – nearly the size of an Olympic swimming pool – and 15m deep.

Cranes have been mobilised and a 30m slope built to locate and reach the driver, with a second slope under construction, but progress has been slow and dangerous.

Mr Koichi Yamamoto, an official with Yashio’s fire department, told AFP on Feb 4 that rescue efforts had been suspended.

A “substantial” amount of sewage water has accumulated at the site, eroding the surrounding soil and “constantly flowing in like a river”, he said.