A Pennsylvania woman and her 5-year-old granddaughter were out looking for their cat when the woman suddenly disappeared — right where a fresh sinkhole "the size of a manhole" opened up. Now, still missing after an extensive, two-day search, police fear the 64-year-old grandmother might be dead.
"We've had no signs of any form of life or anything," State Trooper Steve Limani said via NPR, saying the sinkhole seems to have "opened up with her standing on top of it." And although the opening of the sinkhole isn't huge, underneath it is a "long-closed, crumbling mine."
"We cannot judge as to what's going on underneath us. Again, you had a small hole on top but as soon as you stuck a camera down through to look, you had this big void," added Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham. "And it was all different depths. The process is long, is tedious. We have to make sure that we are keeping safety in the forefront as well as the rescue effort."
Fortunately, the young girl was found unharmed inside the woman's parked car. The cat's whereabouts, however, remain unclear.
From NPR:
The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania is moving into a recovery effort… Emergency crews and others have been trying to locate Pollard, 64, for two days. Her relatives reported her missing early Tuesday and her vehicle with her unharmed 5-year-old granddaughter inside was found about two hours later…
Authorities said in a noon update that the roof of the mine has collapsed in several places and is not stable. …
Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but it detected nothing. Another camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface, Limani said. Searchers have also deployed drones and thermal imaging equipment, to no avail.
Previously: Sinkhole swallows entire car — along with passengers — on highway in Italy (video)
