Authorities in Yashio City, Saitama, received calls around 9.50am saying that a road had caved in and a lorry had fallen.

“We have been carrying out a rescue operation ever since,” a fire department spokesman told AFP around seven hours later.

He added that they estimate the sinkhole is about 10m wide and 6m deep.

“Now, we’re trying to see if we can pull up the truck using a large crane,” he said.

“There is risk that the hole will collapse.”

The driver was able to talk with rescuers until around 1pm but they retreated after the area around the hole became unstable, the spokesman said.

The team initially planned to rescue the driver by going into the sinkhole, but two members were mildly injured while attempting to do so.

A sewer system runs through the vicinity of the intersection, and the cause of the road collapse is under investigation, Kyodo News reported.