Hokkaido Prefectural Government officials explain about the road cave-in incident at the government office in Sapporo on Nov. 11, 2021. (Mainichi/Jun Yoneyama)

       SAPPORO -- A car fell into a sinkhole in a road in the northern Japan city of Mikasa, Hokkaido, on Nov. 11, leaving the driver and two passengers injured.

       Police received an emergency call from a passerby at around 3 a.m. on the day saying that there is a sinkhole in a prefectural road in the city's Honcho district. According to Hokkaido Prefectural Police's Iwamizawa Police Station, the hole was about 5 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 3 meters deep. A passenger car fell into the hole, and the young male driver and two young female passengers sustained injuries.

       The police station explained that the driver in his 20s crawled out of the hole by himself, and the two young women were rescued by officers and other personnel who rushed to the scene. One of the women, who was in her 20s, suffered a broken pelvis. The sinkhole later expanded to some 7 meters long, 7 meters wide and 6 meters deep.

       The Hokkaido Prefectural Government has closed the area to traffic. There were apparently no abnormalities as of 9 p.m. on Nov. 10. Police are investigating the cause of the incident.

       (Japanese original by Takumi Taniguchi and Jun Yoneyama, Hokkaido News Department)

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