Sinkholes in Saitama merge; truck driver still trapped on 3rd day

Hoping against hope that this poor truck driver can be rescued. Obviously the longer this goes on, the less chances, sadly. The sink-hole is getting bigger and more hazardous to the rescue teams, it appears.

"It is inconvenient as the road has been closed for three days," an 83-year-old man who lives near the site said. 

Inconvenient? Selfish and heartless old man.

Anguish all around, including rescue workers.

So they really want people not to flush the toilet, take a bath, wash clothes? Good luck with that!

Sadly, at this point it most likely a recovery operation, not a rescue operation.

Some 1.2 million residents in a total of 12 cities and towns in the prefecture have been urged to refrain from using the sewage system since Tuesday, 

I’m guessing that this is not the only sewer pipe that has rusted out. The rest of the pipes that have not been maintained should be identified and checked asap. The whole situation could get much worse.

They’re not sinkholes. Some knowledgeable soul kindly told us, remember?

What an awful way for that poor old man to leave this world. Luckily those cranes/power shovels weren't swallowed up too!

Hope he was wearing something warm throughout this. There is talks about snow and I hope they are able to figure out a swift rescue before then.

Many of the brickwork Victorian/Meji sewers are still in action. Concrete does not seem to last as well…

The rest of the pipes that have not been maintained should be identified and checked asap. 

That's almost all of the pipes in Japan. The number of pipes passing the standard service life of 50 years is rapidly increasing. So ideally they need to be fixed before these incidents happen, but they're not gonna allocate money for that..

I would image a 74 year-old would not survive those conditions for three days and three nights, cold and without water.

Hope he was wearing something warm throughout this. There is talks about snow and I hope they are able to figure out a swift rescue before then.

He has long since passed away. The safety of the rescuers is now the main concern.

Still?!

Speechless. Depressing.

I still don't understand how they still can't rescue him.

securing Air Lifting the entire cabin out the hole is the only way I would think and I am sure it's already been considered so what's taking so ling??

A country full of some of the best and brightest engineers on our planet.

And I can not finish typing what I want to convey. Ugh.... Frustrated.

I still don't understand how they still can't rescue him.

Really? He crashed a truck into a 6m deep sink hole at speed. The cab was crushed entrapping him in the wreckage. When Japanese news reports say he is " unresponsive" this is code for deceased. It is a very dangerous situation, two rescuers have already been injured. They are recovering the body safely.

Seems certain it’s become recovery of a body. The authorities now have time to further open up the sink hole and bank the sides, to allow safe access to the truck. Lifting trench boxes in line is an option but there’s an awful lot of cables over the sinkhole making it very difficult.

Some 1.2 million residents in a total of 12 cities and towns in the prefecture have been urged to refrain from using the sewage system

I've read elsewhere that they have been asked "to ease pressure on the sewage system by limiting their use of water". A slight difference, I think.

Are they providing food and water to the truck driver while waiting to be rescued? Or have they even located the truck driver?

WoodyLee

securing Air Lifting the entire cabin out the hole is the only way I would think and I am sure it's already been considered so what's taking so ling??

From the images shown on TV it seem the cabin was covered by sliding dirt, so they can not even get to it.

I doubt the poor guy is still alive.

Recent Japanese LDP regime is wasting huge taxpayers money for unnecessary events or problematic policies that only benefiting corporations, on the other hand, they stingy with even repairing cost of tap water facilities that very important for daily life and health of citizen.

We all know the poor truck driver is dead, but because of silly Japanese law, he can only be pronounced dead by a doctor. Someone could be lying on the floor, with no head, and completely exsanguinated, but Japanese media would still not report them as dead because a doctor hasn't checked for a heart beat or pupil reflex.

We all know the poor truck driver is dead, but because of silly Japanese law, he can only be pronounced dead by a doctor. 

Are you a doctor? Can you say when someone is dead or not? I am not, it is the specialist job and I will not tell them how to do their job.

Someone could be lying on the floor, with no head, and completely exsanguinated, but Japanese media would still not report them as dead because a doctor hasn't checked for a heart beat or pupil reflex.

How to check pupils if there’s no head?

Inconvenient? Selfish and heartless old man.

The guy was clearly just asked by a reporter to describe how the road closure was affecting local residents and gave a straight answer. Its extraordinarily unfair to condemn and insult him for not caring about the fate of the driver based solely on that quote.

Over a million people affected now in the communities upstream of this sewage drain. Residents moved out, and businesses unable to work as the internet in the area is also down.

All this from one single broken sewage pipe.

Imagine the chaos when the next Kanto earthquake strikes.

For those who whatever reason still think the poor driver is alive just cast your minds back to the Shiretoko sightseeing boat disaster a few years ago. The bodies that were washing up on the shore a week later were being described as "unresponsive".