The workers apparently fell in the 15-metre-deep hole on Saturday during a sewage pipe inspection, taking place in the wake of a huge and fatal sinkhole earlier this year
Four workers who fell into a manhole on Saturday during a sewage pipe inspection in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, are all feared dead after being recovered without vital signs, police said.
The four men, believed to be in their 50s, did not respond to calls after falling into the approximately 15-metre-deep manhole in Gyoda.
The authorities received an emergency call at around 9:25am after one man apparently fell in, followed by the other three who tried to rescue him.
A city official said the inspection was being carried out in the wake of a massive sinkhole that appeared at an intersection in Yashio, also in Saitama, on January 28, swallowing a truck and its driver, whose body was recovered in May.
