Search for Pennsylvania woman who fell into sinkhole now a recovery effort – NBC10 Philadelphia

The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania is moving into a recovery operation after no signs of life were found for two days, authorities said Wednesday.

Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Trooper Steve Limani said during a news conference that authorities no longer believe they will find 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard alive but that the search for her remains continues.

“We had no signs of life or anything like that,” Limani said.

Rescue workers and others have been trying to locate Pollard, 64, for two days. Her relatives reported her missing early Tuesday and her vehicle, with her uninjured 5-year-old granddaughter inside, was found about two hours later near what is believed to be a freshly opened sinkhole above the long-closed, crumbling mine.

Authorities said in a midday update that the mine’s roof had collapsed in several places and was unstable. The sinkhole is located in the village of Marguerite, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.

“We actually got where we wanted to go, where we thought they were. We were at that location,” said Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha, the incident commander. “I don’t know what happened at that point, maybe the mud pushed them in one direction. There were several different seams from this mine, shafts that all converged where this happened.”

Searchers used electronic devices and cameras while surface digging continued with heavy equipment, Bacha said. Search dogs can also be used.

On Wednesday afternoon, machines removed material from the area around the hole while police and other government vehicles blocked a clear view of the scene.

Sinkholes occur in the area due to ground subsidence caused by coal mining. Rescuers had used water to break up and remove clay and dirt from the mine, which has been closed since the 1950s, but that increased the risk that “further mine subsidence may be occurring,” said Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Trooper Steve Limani.

The emergency services lowered a mast camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but discovered nothing. Another camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface, Limani said. The searchers also used drones and thermal imaging devices, but without success.

Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham, the incident commander, said access to the immediate area around the hole would be strictly controlled and monitored, with rescuers attached to harnesses.

“We cannot judge what is going on among us. “Again, there was a little hole in the top, but as soon as you put a camera in there to look, you had this big gap,” Graham said. “And it was all different depths. The process is long and tedious. We must ensure that safety is as much a priority as rescue efforts.”

Bacha said they “hoped there was a gap she could still be in.”

Pollard’s family called police about 1 a.m. Tuesday and said she had not been seen since they left about 5 p.m. Monday to look for Pepper, their cat. The temperature fell well below freezing that night.

Her son Axel Hayes said Pollard was a happy woman who liked to go out and have fun. She and her husband adopted Hayes and his twin brother when they were toddlers.

Hayes called Pollard “overall a great person, a great mother” who “never really did anyone wrong.”

He said Pollard once had about 10 cats.

“She has a close bond with every cat she has ever come into contact with,” Hayes said.

His mother worked at Walmart for many years but recently became unemployed, he said.

“I just hope at the moment that she is still with us and can come back to us,” he said before the press conference on Wednesday evening.

Police said they found Pollard’s car Monday parked behind the Union Restaurant in Marguerite, about 20 feet (6 meters) from the sinkhole.

Hunters and restaurant workers in the area said they did not notice the manhole-sized opening in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance, leading rescuers to suspect the hole was new.

“It almost feels like it opens when she stands on it,” Limani said.

Searchers entered the mine late Tuesday afternoon and dug out a separate entrance because they feared the ground around the sinkhole opening was unstable.

Pollard lived in a small neighborhood across the street from where her car and granddaughter were parked, Limani said.

The young girl “fell asleep in the car and woke up. “Grandma never came back,” Limani said. The child remained in the car until two police officers rescued him.

It’s not clear what happened to Pepper.

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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire and Sarah Brumfield in Maryland contributed to this report.