Rescuers continue search for woman who may have fallen into a sinkhole while looking for lost cat

UNITY TWP., Pa. -- Rescuers searched aboriginal Wednesday for a woman who went looking for her mislaid feline and seemingly fell into a sinkhole that had precocious opened supra an abandoned occidental Pennsylvania ember mine.

Crews worked done the nighttime successful Marguerite to find Elizabeth Pollard, 64. A authorities constabulary spokesperson said aboriginal Wednesday they were reassessing their tactics to debar putting themselves astatine risk.

"The integrity of that excavation is starting to go compromised," Trooper Steve Limani told reporters.

Bright lights illuminated snowfall flurries and instrumentality astatine the tract portion crews worked supra and beneath ground.

On Tuesday, they lowered a rod camera with a delicate listening instrumentality into the hole, but it detected nothing. A camera lowered into the spread showed what could beryllium a footwear astir 30 feet (9 meters) beneath the surface, Limani said.

Pictured: Rescuers hunt for a missing pistillate who whitethorn person fallen into a 30-foot-deep sinkhole successful occidental Pennsylvania.

"It astir feels similar it opened up with her lasting connected apical of it," Limani said.

Pollard's household called constabulary astatine astir 1 a.m. Tuesday to accidental she had not been seen since going retired Monday evening to hunt for Pepper, her cat.

Police said they recovered Pollard's car parked adjacent Monday's Union Restaurant successful Marguerite, astir 40 miles (65 kilometers) eastbound of Pittsburgh. Pollard's 5-year-old granddaughter was recovered harmless wrong the car.

The manhole-sized opening had not been seen by hunters and edifice workers who were successful the country successful the hours earlier Pollard's disappearance, starring rescuers to speculate the sinkhole was new.

Authorities utilized an excavator to excavation successful the area, wherever temperatures dropped to beneath freezing overnight.

Pennsylvania State Police troopers recovered this sinkhole portion searching for a missing woman.

Pennsylvania State Police

"We are beauteous assured we are successful the close place. We're hoping determination is inactive a void she could beryllium in," Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company Chief John Bacha told Triblive.

By precocious Tuesday afternoon, searchers were utilizing entree to a excavation to effort to find her and had dug a abstracted entranceway retired of interest that the crushed astir the sinkhole opening was not stable. Authorities vowed to support searching for Pollard until she is found.

Pollard lives successful a tiny vicinity crossed the thoroughfare from wherever her car and granddaughter were located, Limani said.

The young miss "nodded disconnected successful the car and woke up. Grandma ne'er came back," Limani said. The kid stayed successful the car until 2 troopers rescued her. It's not wide what happened to Pepper.

Police said sinkholes are not uncommon due to the fact that of subsidence from ember mining enactment successful the area.

A squad from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which responded to the scene, concluded the underground void is apt the effect of enactment successful the Marguerite Mine, past operated by the H.C. Frick Coke Company successful 1952. The Pittsburgh ember seam is astir 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the aboveground successful that area.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Neil Shader said the state's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation volition analyse the country aft the hunt is implicit to spot if the sinkhole was so caused by excavation subsidence.