FILE VIDEO – FOX13 Tampa reports it is safe for residents in a Seffner, Florida neighborhood to remain in their homes despite a sinkhole reopening after swallowing a man while he slept in 2013.
UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The body of a 64-year-old Pennsylvania grandmother has been found four days after she went missing at the site of a gaping sinkhole, according to Pennsylvania State Police (PSP).
Elizabeth Pollard was last seen in Unity Township on Monday night while looking for her cat, troopers said. A witness saw her walking near a restaurant at about 5 p.m. When she didn’t return home by 1 a.m., a relative called the police.
Specialized equipment moving dirt around the sinkhole behind the restaurant.
( KDKA / NNS / FOX Weather)
At around 3 a.m., PSP located Pollard’s car behind the restaurant. They noted that Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter was inside the vehicle, presumably for the eight hours between when Pollard was last seen and when police arrived.
“We, at that point in time, realized this could be a very bad situation,” Pennsylvania State Trooper Steve Limani said on Tuesday.
Upon further inspection of the area, police located a sinkhole about the size of a manhole that was 15-20 feet away from the vehicle, he said.
Sinkholes are not uncommon in the area due to subsidence or gradual caving in of the ground caused by coal mining activity in the area, according to Pleasant Unity Fire Chief and Operations Officer John Bacha.
Troopers are holding a press conference Friday afternoon to release additional details.