Sewer Worker Killed By Heavy Rains

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Six employees of Hokuritsu Construction working on the sewers in Tokyo's Toshima-ku were overwhelmed by the flow in the pipes which had increased as a result of heavy rain. Two colleagues above ground shouted for them to get out but only one was able to escape while the others were swept away. The body of one has been found 3km away in the river Kanda. Police and rescue workers are searching for the missing four men.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I saw this story on the news early. I wonder why they were down there with that much rain falling.

[Mulboyne]

From the Mainichi:

...Investigators said the workers were swept into an underground pipe which led to a water treatment center in Tokyo's Arakawa-ku. The person who made it out by himself said that the six were working inside the manhole when the water level suddenly rose, causing him to lose sight of the other five. Two other workers overseeing the project were on the ground at the time. It is believed that the water level suddenly rose due to heavy rain that pounded the area. Meteorological Agency Officials said that rain started falling in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku from about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. As of 12:30 p.m., 24 millimeters of rain had been recorded...An 80-year-old man living in the area described the weather. "The sky turned black and just when I noticed it had started to rain, there was suddenly a violent thundershower that lasted for over 30 minutes. The rain was so loud I couldn't hear the sound of my TV"...

[gomichild]

Sudden rises in water levels were also responsible for those other recent deaths from storms.

[MrUltimateGaijin]

I saw this story on the news early. I wonder why they were down there with that much rain falling.

they were Japanese

[Charles]

I saw this story on the news early. I wonder why they were down there with that much rain falling.

The storm sewers don't leak or have big problems when it's not raining.

[Mulboyne]

...I wonder why they were down there with that much rain falling.

From the Asahi:

A land ministry official said that, in principle, all work in underground pipes must be halted when steady rain starts to fall.

[maraboutslim]

In the USA, workers can not enter any underground pipe, manhole, ditch, trench, vault, etc. that is deeper than 5' without several types of controls. The air must be constantly monitored for oxygen content, toxicity, combustibility/flammability, etc. They must have shoring in place if walls are soil/sand. A ladder must be within 15' of any space. Etc. If the space is permanent such as this case (not a temporary trench during construction) then workers must also wear fall protection and be connected to a hoist where they can be raised up in an emergency. All electrical sources must be locked out and tagged. All sources of water that could engulf the workers must be blocked off. And so on.

Does Japan not have any such protections for the workers?

[Mulboyne]

It seems increasingly that these workers shouldn't have been down there. In Adachi-ku at almost exactly the same time, part of a street collapsed. The ward said that work on sewers was taking place nearby but not at the time of the accident because the work was halted when it rained. If those workers took the precaution, you have to wonder why the poor guys who were down the manhole didn't do so too.

[Greji]

Does Japan not have any such protections for the workers?

Sure. Casualty insurance for their survivors!

[Greji]

It seems increasingly that these workers shouldn't have been down there. In Adachi-ku at almost exactly the same time, part of a street collapsed. The ward said that work on sewers was taking place nearby but not at the time of the accident because the work was halted when it rained. If those workers took the precaution, you have to wonder why the poor guys who were down the manhole didn't do so too.

The TV said some dude was injured when he rode his motor scooter into one of those sink holes. It was in Adachi, I wonder if that was the one.

[Mulboyne]

The TV said some dude was injured when he rode his motor scooter into one of those sink holes. I wonder if that was the one.

Yes it was. He broke his pelvis.

Incidentally, it looks like they've found more bodies from the original incident. I don't think they were expecting to find anyone alive; the main aim appears to be to recover them from the system.

[Hamaki]

I live where this happend and these guys have been working on this sewer for 4 to 6 months.

The place where they were working is gully that all the water from the Mejiro/Zoshigaya/Minami Ikebukuro area flows into and then down to the Kanda river.

According to my wife the rain started to fall about 12:15pm, so the guys got in trouble in less than 15min.

[Greji]

[quote="Mulboyne"]Yes it was. He broke his pelvis.

Incidentally, it looks like they've found more bodies from the original incident. I don't think they were expecting to find anyone alive]

Maybe I'm naive about riding a scooter in Japan, but that seems to be a pretty fucking big hole to have not noticed, even in the rain. The only thing I could figure is he was right up to it, or on top of it, when it caved in....

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: 2 confirmed dead, 3 remain missing after being swept away in manhole by heavy rain

Two men died and three others remain missing after they were swept away in a manhole in Tokyo as heavy rain pounded the capital Tuesday, police said. The two victims have been identified as Hiroshi Oshima, 49, and Makoto Terai, 44. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the Tokyo Fire Department are searching for the three missing workers. A flood warning was issued in downtown Tokyo shortly before the accident, but the company that was undertaking the work did not know that. MPD investigators are questioning those responsible for the work to see if they were negligent in taking safety measures. A 25-year-old worker who managed to escape said he was almost washed away by the strong current. "I was hit by what appeared to be a flash flood. I was almost swept away, but clung to a ladder of the manhole and made it to safety," he said. The water level inside the manhole in Toshima-ku, Tokyo, suddenly rose at around noon on Tuesday as six workers were repairing sewage pipes inside it, police said. One of them managed to make it to safety by himself, but the five others were swept away and went missing.

Oshima was later found in the Kanda River, about 3.5 kilometers away from the manhole. He was pronounced dead. Terai was discovered in a pumping station near where Oshima was found. Terai was rescued but subsequently was confirmed dead. It started raining at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. A heavy rain and flood warning was issued in downtown Tokyo about five minutes later, but the Takenaka Doboku civil engineering company, the principal contractor for the work [the men worked for Hokuritsu, a subcontractor], did not know that and failed to order workers to stop the work. The 58-year-old supervisor ordered the six to get out of the manhole after the rain became heavy.

[Mulboyne]

From the Asahi:

Stormwaters that flooded a sewage tunnel in Tokyo on Tuesday flowed at such force the five maintenance workers swept away apparently stood no chance, metropolitan government officials said. The torrent of water gushed at an estimated 7 meters per second (mps), they said. The impact was likely the equivalent of being hit by 1 ton of water, according to an expert...The velocity was more than seven times the usual flow in the Zoshigaya trunk sewer, where the men were repairing walls. Tuesday's downpour quickly raised water levels in the sewer. The water is usually about 10 centimeters deep and flows at 1 mps. "People are unable to remain standing in a current of 2 mps below their knees," said Nobutaka Taguchi, a professor at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture. "In a torrent of 7 mps, a force of more than 1 ton is applied to the body," said the specialist swim coach who simulates such conditions in a pool. Water and sewage from a 48-hectare area flows into the trunk sewer. When rain falls at a rate of 50 millimeters per hour, water levels up to 90 cm deep and at speeds of up to 6.8 mps can occur... The contractors' rules require work to be halted when the flow level hits 30 cm. But Tokyo officials suspect the water rose so quickly the workers had little time to escape. Only one worker got out safely after colleagues on the road above alerted the crew. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a downpour advisory for Tokyo's 23 wards at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday. It was upgraded to a warning at 12:33 p.m.--too late for the workers...