Japanese authorities have asked hundreds of residents near Tokyo to evacuate as a sinkhole at an intersection grew to more than 40 meters wide, hampering rescuers racing to reach an elderly truck driver whose vehicle was swallowed by the hole.

A sinkhole near Tokyo that swallowed a dump truck hole on Tuesday has now doubled in wide after combining with a second sinkhole as rescue workers continued their dig to reach the vehicle's driver.

Officials in Yashio city, located north of Tokyo, are trying to rescue a 74-year-old man whose truck was swallowed by a massive sinkhole on Tuesday. View on euronews

A massive sinkhole opened on a road in Japan's Saitama Prefecture. Rescue efforts are underway a truck that fell into the sinkhole.

Emergency workers have been hampered by unstable ground since Tuesday, when a truck and its driver were swallowed north of Tokyo.

TOKYO -- An oval-shaped pit suddenly formed on a busy road in Yashio, Japan, on Tuesday, taking down a truck and trapping the driver inside. Emergency crews battled unstable ground and debris.

TOKYO, Jan 30 — Japanese authorities have asked 1.2 million people to cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage aggravating an operation to rescue a truck driver in a sinkhole. The hole suddenly opened up in Yashio during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, swallowing the lorry.

A massive sinkhole has appeared at an intersection near Tokyo, swallowing a truck and its driver, according to multiple reports. Two rescuers have reportedly been injured in their attempt to retrieve the driver.

A truck that fell into a sinkhole that suddenly opened on a road near Tokyo has captured national attention as attempts to rescue the elderly driver drag on. Residents near the hole have taken shelter at a local school,

Rescue workers in Japan are trying to pull out a truck driver from a sinkhole that appeared on Tuesday and has since widened. The sinkhole appeared in Yashio city in Saitama prefecture, near the capital Tokyo,

"It is thought to have been caused by a crack in the Nakagawa River Basin sewer pipe. As a result of this collapse, a passing truck fell in," said Saitama's governor Motohiro Ono at a press briefing on Tuesday, adding that rescuing the driver was the primary initiative.

A truck and its driver were swallowed by a sinkhole the size of a large swimming pool which appeared at a busy intersection in the Japanese city of Yashio on Tuesday.