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AP: Rescuers search for woman who may have fallen into a sinkhole while looking for her lost cat
AP - Rescuers search for woman who may have fallen into a sinkhole while looking for her lost cat
By MARK SCOLFORO and GENE PUSKAR
Updated 8:45 AM EST, December 4, 2024
UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Rescuers searched Wednesday for a woman who went looking for her lost cat and apparently fell into a sinkhole that had recently opened above an abandoned western Pennsylvania coal mine.
Crews worked through the night in the Unity Township community of Marguerite to find Elizabeth Pollard, 64. A state police spokesperson said early Wednesday they were reassessing their tactics to avoid putting themselves at risk.
“The integrity of that mine is starting to become compromised,” Trooper Steve Limani told reporters.
Rescuers had been using water to break down clay and dirt to remove it from the mine, but that action was making conditions dangerous “for potential other mine subsidence to take place,” he said.
“We’re probably going to have to switch gears” and do a bit more complicated dig, he said.
On Tuesday, they lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but it detected nothing. A camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface, Limani said.
“It almost feels like it opened up with her standing on top of it,” Limani said.
/snip
By MARK SCOLFORO and GENE PUSKAR
Updated 8:45 AM EST, December 4, 2024
UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Rescuers searched Wednesday for a woman who went looking for her lost cat and apparently fell into a sinkhole that had recently opened above an abandoned western Pennsylvania coal mine.
Crews worked through the night in the Unity Township community of Marguerite to find Elizabeth Pollard, 64. A state police spokesperson said early Wednesday they were reassessing their tactics to avoid putting themselves at risk.
“The integrity of that mine is starting to become compromised,” Trooper Steve Limani told reporters.
Rescuers had been using water to break down clay and dirt to remove it from the mine, but that action was making conditions dangerous “for potential other mine subsidence to take place,” he said.
“We’re probably going to have to switch gears” and do a bit more complicated dig, he said.
On Tuesday, they lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but it detected nothing. A camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface, Limani said.
“It almost feels like it opened up with her standing on top of it,” Limani said.
/snip