Photo/Illutration A car transports a body found in a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on May 2. (Masahide Miyajima)

YASHIO, Saitama Prefecture—Firefighters on May 2 found a body believed to be the driver of a 2-ton truck that plunged into a sinkhole at an intersection here in January, the Saitama prefectural government said.

Although police said they were still confirming the identity of the body, the trucker’s family and employer released statements, describing him as a warm-hearted and popular person.

The search and rescue operation for the trucker who was trapped in a ruptured sewer pipe about 10 meters beneath the surface had been delayed due to continuous water leaks, additional cave-ins and extremely precarious conditions.

About 20 firefighters and police officers entered the 4.75-meter-diameter pipe on May 1 for the first time since the accident and conducted a visual inspection.

They confirmed that the truck cabin was still within the pipe and that a person was in the driver’s seat.

After checking hydrogen sulfide concentrations and sewage water levels in the pipe, they determined the risk of a secondary disaster was low.

A little after 4:20 a.m. on May 2, firefighters walked within the pipe toward the truck cabin. The body was pulled out and taken away by car.

The ruptured pipe is believed to have spewed out water that eroded the ground under the prefectural road intersection in the Yashio 2-chome district, causing the sinkhole to form on Jan. 28.

The prefecture had been working since mid-February to create a temporary drainage pipe to divert the flow of sewage water away from the truck cabin. Workers also excavated holes from the ground level directly above the driver’s seat and from an area on the upstream side of the sewage pipe.

The work was essentially completed at the end of April, about 10 days earlier than initially planned.

‘LOVABLE, HONEST PERSON’

The family of the truck driver, who was in his 70s, released a statement through the prefectural police, saying they still cannot believe that he is gone.

The family described him as a big, strong-minded person “who could be relied on for anything.”

“We are sure he fought the fear and pain, wanting to return home alive until he ran out of strength,” the statement said.

“He could be a little stubborn, but he was always smiling and had a very kind and gentle personality,” the family said. “He showered his grandchildren with love, and his great-grandchildren with even more love. He was really looking forward to watching them grow up.”

The truck driver’s employer also described him as having a warm personality.

“He was sometimes a bit clumsy, but that didn’t stop him from being a lovable, honest person,” the employer said in a statement.

“Despite his advanced age, he was the life of the party,” the statement continued. “When he returned to the office, the whole place was naturally filled with smiles.

The employer said the trucker “worked for us for over 20 years, and he expressed a strong desire to work as long as he was able to.”

(This article was written by Shun Nakamura and Masahide Miyajima.)

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