Firefighters Point Out “Inadequacies of Fire Department” in Yashio Road Cave-in

Couldn’t the driver have been rescued earlier?

What was the 72-year-old driver’s state of mind in the cold, dark hole? ……

A month has already passed since the accident, a road caved in in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture. The driver of the truck that fell into the hole that suddenly opened up on the prefectural road, which is a main road, is still not rescued. Why can’t they rescue him? Couldn’t something have been done at an earlier stage? Many people must have felt this way as they watched the sinkhole continue to collapse and expand.

It is difficult to judge, but there were alternatives, and the fire department mismanaged the situation,” said a number of fire department officials. Before explaining the “mismanagement,” let us first look back at the circumstances of the accident.

According to the Saitama prefectural government, the cause of the cave-in was a 5-meter-diameter sewage pipe that was damaged, causing a hole to open and earth and sand to flow into it. Under the ground, soil and sand gradually leaked into the sewer pipe, creating a large cavity under the prefectural road. The asphalt on the top surface could no longer hold and collapsed, creating a large hole in the prefectural road, and a truck that was just passing by fell in, along with its driver.

Early reports indicate that the truck was slanted in the hole, head first into the sand and soil, and that the driver’s cab was covered with sand and soil, exposing the bed of the truck.

The Soka-Yashio Fire Department, which has jurisdiction over the site, received a 119 call at 9:49 a.m. on January 28, stating that the road had caved in and the truck had fallen in. The fire department immediately dispatched a fire brigade and began rescue activities. According to the fire department, the driver in the cab was answering the call from the time they arrived until about 1:00 p.m. several hours later. The initial rescue method was for two firefighters wearing lifelines to descend into the hole and dig around the driver’s cab by hand with shovels. However, the interior of the collapsed hole collapsed further, and the firefighters were caught in the collapse, injuring two of the crew members and hospitalizing one.

The fire brigade then changed its strategy to “hoist the truck with a crane. A private crane was requested and an attempt was made to lift the truck. However, the first attempt to lift the truck at around 8:30 p.m. failed when the wire broke. The number of cranes was increased, and a second attempt was made around 10:00 p.m., and at 1:00 a.m., just after the date had changed, the load was lifted.

However, only the cargo bed was lifted. The driver’s cab was shredded, probably because it could not withstand the weight of the sand and soil. Immediately after that, another major collapse occurred, swallowing utility poles and a large signboard of a store into the ground. It is believed that the loss of the loading platform was caused by the collapse of sediment that had been trapped in the ground. Rescue efforts were suspended following the collapse. After that, the fire department could not even determine where the driver’s cab was located.