Tokyo, 12 February, /AJMEDIA/
The missing cabin of a truck swallowed by a huge sinkhole that emerged at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, was located in a sewer pipe nearby, local officials said Tuesday.
A search of the sewer pipe near the site using a drone found the truck cabin about 30 meters downstream of the sinkhole, prefectural officials said.
Images taken by the drone suggest there is a human body inside the truck cabin, but rescuers cannot enter the pipe due to continuous water flow and high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas in the nearly 5-meter-diameter pipe, officials said.
Saitama Gov Motohiro Ono told reporters that rescuers will attempt to remove the truck cabin after installing a temporary bypass pipe, but the process could take about three months.
The sinkhole, which emerged on Jan 28, swallowed the truck of a 74-year-old driver and eventually expanded to about 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep.
Rescuers built a ramp into the sinkhole to clear mud and rubble with heavy machinery, but the search inside was called off.
