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.

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

An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors. Sixty-four people were on board the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three soldiers were on the helicopter.