The Yashio Road Cave-in Accident: Rescue operations were prolonged due to a series of unexpected events…were the initial decisions the right ones?

The hole, which was initially about 5 meters in diameter…

FRIDAY Digital will present a selection of the most serious and heinous incidents that will occur in the year 2025. This time, we will focus on the “Yashio Road Cave-in Accident,” in which a sudden road cave-in turned into a major disaster that was not expected.

At around 9:50 a.m. on January 28, a road suddenly caved in at the Chuo 1-chome intersection in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, with a diameter of approximately 5 m and a depth of 10 m. A truck driven by a man fell into the hole. Rescue operations were immediately carried out by the fire department. Over time, the hole expanded to a diameter of about 40 meters.

The sewerage system that caused the cave-in is the source of sewage for 12 cities, towns, and 1.2 million people. Rescue efforts were difficult because it was difficult to reduce the flow of sewage even after calls for voluntary restraint in its use, and hydrogen sulfide was also generated. It was not until May 2 that the body of the male driver was recovered.

FRIDAY Digital” distributed on March 9 reported that several firefighters pointed out that “it is difficult to judge, but there were other ways to do it, and it was inadequate by the fire department,” regarding the question of whether rescue could not have been carried out at a much earlier stage. First, let us look back at the initial rescue from the articles of the time (the figures in [ ] are quotations from previous articles).

Was the rescue system adequate?

At 9:49 a.m. on January 28, the Soka-Yashio Fire Department, which has jurisdiction over the site, received a 119 call at 9:49 a.m. that a road had caved in and a truck had fallen in. The fire department immediately dispatched a fire brigade to the scene and began rescue operations. 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 firefighters then changed their 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.

In an article in FRIDAY Digital at the time, a fire department official belonging to a different fire department from Yashio in Saitama Prefecture raised questions about the initial rescue system. In summary, the article read as follows

The man could have been rescued after ensuring the safety of the firefighters by using a method to rescue the truck while preventing the surrounding area from collapsing by covering it with earth and sand.

The Soka-Yashio Fire Department does not have the equipment or skills to do so, so the upper management should have made a decision at an earlier stage to request support from other fire departments in Saitama or the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

When we interviewed the Soka-Yashio Fire Department about this view, they replied, “We are currently in the process of verifying the situation by interviewing our employees. At this point, we are refraining from giving an answer. We do not know what was the right thing to do at this unique disaster site, which we have never experienced before. However, it is an undeniable fact that the rescue operation took three months to complete.

Disaster Still Plagues Residents

On December 19, the Soka-Yashio Firefighters Association’s “Investigation Committee on the Road Cave-in Rescue Case,” which is examining rescue activities, compiled an interim report. In the report, the committee pointed out that the method used to rescue the driver, “the earth retaining method is dangerous and time-consuming, ” and that “under the circumstances, the only method to rescue the driver was by crane . The committee concluded that the decision made at the time was appropriate because “under the circumstances at the time, a crane was the only method that could be used. The final report is scheduled to be compiled by the end of March 2014.

Restoration work is still underway at the site of the cave-in. Many stores have not been able to resume operations due to traffic congestion caused by the blocked roads in the area. In addition, residents are suffering from the stench of hydrogen sulfide. Although the low concentration of hydrogen sulfide is not said to be a direct health hazard, many residents complain of stress.

In addition, metal products around them, such as door handles and bathroom faucets, are turning black. This is also said to be an effect of hydrogen sulfide.

The stench is expected to continue until around March of 2014, when the site will be backfilled. In addition, work is scheduled to be done to double-circuit the sewage pipes at the site, which is expected to take five to seven years before it is completely finished. It seems that it will be some time before the residents can find some peace of mind.