Emergency workers in Japan began building a ramp on Friday to try and reach a 74-year-old truck driver who has not been heard from since his vehicle was swallowed by a sinkhole this week.
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The cavity has expanded to 40 metres (130 feet) across, almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool, since opening up in a city just north of Tokyo on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The growing hole could be the result of corroded sewage pipes, according to authorities in Yashio.
“It is an extremely dangerous condition,” local fire chief Tetsuji Sato told reporters on Thursday at the traffic intersection where dozens of rescuers have been working around the clock.
“We are planning to construct a slope (to access the hole) from a safer spot so that we will be able to send heavy equipment,” he said.
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He added that groundwater was leaking inside and that the hole was “continuing to cave in”.