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Despite the challenging rescue circumstances, rescuers are frantically looking for a grandma they suspect fallen into a deep sinkhole.
Police reported lunchtime Wednesday that after a complex search in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Pollard, who was last seen Monday evening, has not yet been located.
According to authorities, the sinkhole was created while Pollard was strolling about the region and is thought to be connected to an abandoned coal mine. During a briefing on Wednesday,
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said that while search personnel were able to enter the mine area, the water they are using to break up the earth has jeopardized the mine’s integrity.
According to Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha, the search effort will now be conducted using cameras instead of sending search teams inside the mine because of the risk of collapse.
Although the digging procedure would now be slower, Limani said that the search will go on for as long as necessary, barring any safety issues.
During a briefing Tuesday night, Limani said, “Hopefully she’s in an air pocket,” adding that similar circumstances had been survived in underground mines in the area.
“This is a rescue to me until something says that it’s not.” Rescuers are resolute despite the challenging circumstances, which include clay-like dirt that makes excavation challenging.
“We’re doing everything we can, and no one is giving up,” Limani said. “It’s devastating for her family and everyone here,” he said. We won’t stop, however. Everybody is looking for a miracle.
At an earlier news conference Tuesday, Limani said that Pollard was reported missing by a family member just before 1 a.m. According to Limani,
Pollard was last seen on Monday at about 5:00 p.m. According to the family member, Pollard has not been contacted since he went out on Monday afternoon to search for her pet.
Just before three in the morning on Tuesday, Pollard’s car was found with her five-year-old granddaughter inside,
But Pollard was not there, according to the police. “At that point in time we realized this could be a very bad situation,” Limani said.
15 to 20 feet from the car, troopers discovered what seemed to be a sinkhole with an entrance the “size of a manhole” while looking for Pollard in the area, according to Limani.
According to officials, emergency personnel were sent to the location in what is now being regarded as a rescue operation. Alongside an excavation crew, the state’s Bureau of Mine Safety,
Local firemen, and a technical rescue team are removing earth to get access to the sinkhole, according to Limani.
According to Limani, the evidence now available suggests that Pollard is in the sinkhole. “We don’t feel a reason that we should be looking elsewhere,” he said.
Limani said that there is no proof the sinkhole existed before to her beginning her search for her cat, and that it seemed to have been formed while Pollard was out and about.
The “very thin layer of earth” in the sinkhole’s formation location seems to have been degrading “for a long time,” according to Limani.
“It appears to be mostly just grass interwoven where she had stepped,” he said. “There wasn’t much earth at all to hold up that space.”
At the previous news meeting, Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham informed reporters that a camera placed into the sinkhole’s entry revealed a “big void, and it was all different depths.”
According to Bacha, officials did notice a “modern-type” shoe in the sinkhole, but a camera did not record any noise. He said on Wednesday that the shoe has not been found during the dig.
Regarding the search attempt, Graham said, “The process is long and it is tedious.” According to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection,
The mine ceased operations in 1952. According to a department official, the coal seam in this region is around 20 feet deep.
The government will examine the location “to determine if this issue is the result of historic mine subsidence,” the spokeswoman said, once the area has been cleared.
Despite the freezing conditions last night, Pollard’s granddaughter is safe and with her parents at the moment, according to Limani.
The family is hoping for “good news,” he stated, and is requesting privacy at this time. Limani said, “We need to get a little bit lucky,”
“We’re going to do everything we can.” This material was contributed to by Jason Volack and Alexandra Faul of ABC News.