Sinkhole swallows truck in Japan, trapping driver inside
JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images
(TOKYO) — The oval-shaped pit suddenly formed on a busy road in Yashio, Japan, taking down a truck and trapping the driver inside. Emergency crews battled unstable ground and debris.
The crater is about 30 feet wide and 16 feet deep. It formed in a well-traveled area of Saitama Prefecture, just outside Tokyo, Japan’s capital. While Tokyo is a global economic hub, Saitama is more residential.
Authorities say the driver, a man, is inside the cab and is in communication with firefighters. However, his truck’s front end appeared lodged in dirt, making the rescue difficult.
Locals appeared stunned. One woman described hearing a thunderous boom, running outside and seeing a hole where the road had been: “I could still see part of the truck at first, but then it kept sinking … and sinking … and then it was just gone.”
Another man, on his way to grab lunch, said he was just as shocked: “I drive this road all the time. Now I don’t know if it’s even safe to use anymore.”
Firefighters have deployed a crane and ropes. The walls of the hole are fragile, making the operation dangerous. Police have shut down roads in the area, fearing more collapses. Status of the driver is unclear.
The cause of the sinkhole is also not clear, but officials are investigating whether underground pipes, recent weather, or construction may have contributed.
Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Feb. 25, 2025 in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine/Libkos/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Ukraine is “preparing for negotiations” with the U.S. regarding security guarantees and “crucial” aid, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, with the Ukrainian leader expected to travel to Washington, D.C. on Friday to meet with President Donald Trump and sign a minerals deal.
Kyiv is maneuvering to win a U.S. security agreement as part of the proposed minerals deal, a “preliminary framework” of which Ukraine has been working on, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
But Trump said he would not offer any security guarantees to Ukraine “beyond very much,” as part of any agreement. “We’re going to have Europe do that,” he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
In a video statement posted to the presidential website on Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy said his team is “working to ensure that Ukrainian positions are protected under any circumstances.”
“And this is one of the key conditions for the diplomacy we need — for the right diplomacy that will guarantee peace for Ukraine,” he added.
The president said there “was a lot of international work” on Wednesday. “Our teams are working with the United States, we are preparing for negotiations as early as this Friday. The agreement with America. Support for our state and people.”
“Guarantees of peace and security — this is the key to ensuring that Russia will no longer destroy the lives of other nations,” Zelenskyy said. “I will meet with President Trump. For me and for all of us in the world, it is crucial that America’s assistance is not stopped. Strength is essential on the path to peace.”
Trump said Wednesday that he expects to sign the minerals deal with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, adding that his administration is “happy” with the deal. Trump has framed the agreement as a means to recoup American wartime aid to Ukraine.
The countries agreed to a deal relating to critical minerals and other resources, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday.
Details of the deal appear to suggest Kyiv has succeeded in significantly improving the terms, perhaps staring down some of the Trump administration’s more onerous demands.
The $500 billion demanded by Trump no longer features in the deal, and the fund that Ukraine will pay into is also no longer going to be 100% U.S.-owned, according to the full text of the agreement obtained by ABC News.
Ukraine agreed to contribute 50% of all revenue from its natural resources to a fund jointly owned by Ukraine and the U.S., according to the deal.
The natural resource assets include those directly or indirectly owned by the Ukrainian government and are defined as “deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas and other extractable materials, and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure).”
Zelenskyy, though, warned that any deal will not be viable without U.S. security backing.
“Without future security guarantees, we will not have a real ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said. “And if we don’t have it, nothing will work. Nothing will work.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Hannah Demissie, Rachel Scott and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
Palestinians released by Israel during the 5th round of prisoner-hostage swap between Hamas and Israel, return to their families after taken by the International Committee of the Red Cross’ buses, in Ramallah, West Bank on February 8, 2025. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Hamas militants freed three more Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Israel releasing another 183 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement between the warring sides.
The latest round of the hostage release took place in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. Two Red Cross officials took part in a signing ceremony with a Hamas commander on a stage prior to the handover. A banner could be seen on the stage that read in Arabic “We are the flood … We are the day after” and another banner with the words in Hebrew “Absolute victory” alongside an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face.
The three Israeli hostages — Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levi — were then escorted one-by-one out of vehicles by Hamas militants and brought onto the stage. All three appeared very thin and weak but able to walk and stand.
Hamas militants eventually escorted the hostages off the stage and into three Red Cross vehicles, which slowly drove away through the crowd of people. Meanwhile, the hostages’ families watched the events unravel on a television in southern Israel and they were seen crying at the sight of their loved ones.
“According to information communicated by the Red Cross, three hostages were transferred to them, and they are on their way to IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip,” a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency read following their departure.
The Red Cross later handed over the three newly-released hostages to IDF and ISA forces in Gaza before they crossed into southern Israel, where they underwent an initial medical assessment as their families waited for them at a hospital.
“Three returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF special forces and ISA forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the IDF and ISA said in another joint statement. “The commanders and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces salute and embrace the returning hostages as they make their way home to the State of Israel. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit asks everyone to respect the privacy of the returning hostages and their families.”
As images of the newly released hostages surfaced, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying Netanyahu, who remained in the United States after an official visit to the White House in Washington D.C., “has instructed to not allow the situation to go unaddressed, and to take appropriate measures” because of “the serious condition of the three hostages and the repeated violations by the Hamas terrorist organization.”
In exchange for the three freed hostages, Israel released another 183 Palestinians from its prisons across the country — 72 were transferred to Ramallah and Jerusalem and 111 were transferred to Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Strip. Some of those released appeared frail, including an elderly man on an oxygen tank who had to be carried off one of the buses that arrived in Ramallah.
At least seven of the 72 Palestinian prisoners released in Ramallah and Jerusalem on Saturday were immediately transferred to a hospital, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Their conditions were unknown. All 111 of the Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza on Saturday were taken to the European Hospital near Khan Yunis for medical evaluation. Their conditions were also unknown.
ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Jordana Miller, Dana Savir and Samy Zyara contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — At least 10 people have been injured after a car rammed into a bus stop in Israel, at Karkur Junction, according to Israeli police.
The suspect is a 53-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin area who is married to an Israeli citizen and living in Israel without a permit, according to police.
The driver ran over and injured several civilians standing at the bus stop, police said. The driver has been “neutralized,” police said.
A 17-year-old girl was critically injured, two others seriously wounded, one moderately injured and six others suffered minor injuries, police said.
The critically injured teen suffered head and limb injuries and is now sedated and ventilated, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency services agency. A 60-year-old male with head and limb injuries has also been sedated and ventilated and a 19-year-old female with head injuries is conscious, Magen David Adom said. A 18-year-old female with limb injuries is in moderate condition and is fully conscious.
“It was a severe scene. When we arrived with large forces, we saw the injured, some of them lying on a dirt mound behind the bus stop,” Orly Keinan, an EMT with the group, said. “They told us they were hit by a vehicle that had mounted the sidewalk and fled. We provided them with lifesaving treatment, including stopping bleeding, bandaging, and immobilization, before evacuating them to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
