埼玉さいたま 八潮やしお 道路どうろ陥没かんぼつ 下水道げすいどう管かんに消防しょうぼうなど初はじめて入はいる 男性だんせい捜索そうさくへ

On the morning of May 1st, firefighters and police officers entered the sewer pipe for the first time to check the situation, where a man is believed to be left behind, following a large-scale road collapse in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, where one man remains missing.

The results will be shared at the meeting the prefecture plans to hold in the evening of the 1st, and if there is no risk of secondary disasters or other dangers, the search for the man will begin in earnest.

In the large-scale road collapse that occurred in Yashio City this January, the whereabouts of a 74-year-old man who was riding in a truck that fell in are unknown, and Saitama Prefecture believes he is trapped in the drivers seat section found inside the sewer pipe.

According to the prefecture, in addition to the installation work for the bypass pipe to divert the sewage, two construction projects have been mostly completed: one is a hole almost directly above that leads to the drivers seat area, and the other is a hole that slopes down diagonally from the upstream side.

In response to this, starting a little after 4:30 a.m., more than 10 people, including local firefighters, Tokyo Fire Department members, and police officers, put on protective suits and entered the sewer pipes, taking turns to check the situation for about two hours.

The team members are believed to have checked things like the water level and volume flowing through the pipe, as well as the concentration of hydrogen sulfide and the amount of debris. Saitama Prefecture plans to share the findings confirmed on-site at the task force meeting scheduled for the evening of the 1st. If there is no risk of secondary disasters, the search for the man will be stepped up in earnest.

Governor Ohno announced at a press conference on April 30 that the installation of bypass pipes to divert sewage, as well as the work to drill holes into the pipes from two locations—almost directly above the drivers seat and upstream—had been mostly completed. He also revealed that, as early as May 1, firefighters and police officers would actually enter the inside of the sewer pipes to visually inspect the situation.

Firefighters are expected to thoroughly examine the water level and volume flowing through the pipes, as well as the concentration of hydrogen sulfide and the amount of debris. This will mark the first time people enter the sewer pipes since the collapse occurred, allowing concrete preparations for a full-scale search to move forward.

Governor Ohno said, We are preparing to have on-site inspections conducted by people, instead of the camera-based inspections we have done until now.

I want to do my utmost so that we can begin the rescue as soon as possible, he said.