Remains of grandma who fell into sinkhole found, Pennsylvania coroner says

UPDATE: The remains of a missing grandmother believed to have fallen into a Pennsylvania sinkhole while searching for her cat have been found, the coroner’s office said.

The body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard has been recovered, Sean Hribal, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County, told the Associated Press Friday.

The sad news came one day after police confirmed the search effort had become a recovery operation, saying rescuers no longer believed the would find Pollard alive.

The effort to find Pollard included lowering a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, although it detected nothing. Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the chasm about nine metres deep.

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PREVIOUSLY: Rescuers in Pennsylvania are desperately searching for a grandmother they believe may have fallen into a massive sinkhole while searching for her cat.

Sound-monitoring equipment and heavy machinery are on-site at the Marguerite, Pa., location, as the search for Elizabeth Pollard extends into a second day.

Authorities say the ground where they are working is fragile and unstable and at further risk of collapse. Marguerite, a village that had once been a coal town, is susceptible to sinkholes due to past mining activity.

Pennsylvania State Police said early Wednesday they have been pumping water through the long-abandoned mine, clearing out debris before removing it with a vacuum.

While this method makes it easier to see what is underground, “the integrity of that mine is starting to become compromised,” Trooper Steve Limani said in a news conference, according to CNN. He added they are “probably going to have to switch gears” and do a more complicated dig.

Crews worked through the night in the Unity Township community of Marguerite to find 64-year-old Pollard.

Pollard was last seen on Monday evening, when she left her home to search for her cat, Pepper. Her family called police around 1 a.m. on Tuesday to report that she never came back.

Police said they found Pollard’s car parked near Monday’s Union Restaurant in Marguerite. The sinkhole was less than 20 feet from her vehicle.

Her 5-year-old granddaughter, who was later found safe and in good condition, was left in the car at the time.

“Thank God she stayed in the car,” Limani said, noting that the evening temperature had plunged.

The manhole-size opening had not been seen by hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance, leading rescuers to speculate the sinkhole was new.

As soon as the sinkhole was discovered, Limani said “it became an all-hands-on-deck scenario,” and dozens were called to the scene, including an excavation team, a mining expert, search-and-rescue professionals and first responders.

A camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 metres) below the surface, Limani said. He described the shoe as “modern” and said it did not appear to be a relic from the town’s mining days.

“It almost feels like it opened up with her standing on top of it,” Limani said.

In an interview with CBS News, Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, said he is experiencing a mix of emotions.

“I’m upset that she hasn’t been found yet, and I’m really just worried about whether she’s still down there, where she is down there, or she went somewhere and found somewhere safer,” Hayes said.

“Right now, I just hope she’s alive and well, that she’s going to make it, that my niece still has a grandmother, that I still have a mother that I can talk to.”

A team from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which responded to the scene, concluded the underground void is likely the result of work in the Marguerite Mine, last operated by the H.C. Frick Coke Company in 1952. The Pittsburgh coal seam is about 20 feet (6 metres) below the surface in that area.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Neil Shader said the state’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation will examine the scene after the search is over to see if the sinkhole was indeed caused by mine subsidence.

— With files from The Associated Press

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