

TOKYO: Five households in the immediate vicinity of a massive, ever-widening sinkhole near Tokyo were urged to evacuate on Sunday, with efforts to rescue a man stuck inside reportedly halted. A 74-year-old truck driver was swallowed by the cavity which has since expanded to 40 metres across -- almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool. Requests were issued on Sunday for five households near the hole in the city of Yashio, Saitama region, to take shelter.
On Saturday, Japanese rescuers completed building a 30-metre slope to send heavy equipment and reach the truck driver. But a good amount of sewage water was discovered underneath the slope, which, combined with rain, led to the rescue mission being suspended Sunday, public broadcaster NHK said. With the walls of the hole eroding, rescue workers are unable to stay inside it for long. Around 1.2 million people living nearby have so far been asked to cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage from hindering the operation. — AFP
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