After two days of unsuccessful search efforts, authorities in Pennsylvania have shifted from a rescue operation to a recovery mission in the hunt for Elizabeth Pollard, a 64-year-old woman believed to have fallen into a sinkhole near an abandoned mine.
UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania has become a recovery effort after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life, authorities said Wednesday.
Emergency crews and others have been trying to locate Pollard for two days. Her relatives reported her missing early Tuesday and her vehicle with her unharmed 5-year-old granddaughter inside was found about two hours later, near what is thought to be a freshly opened sinkhole above a long closed, crumbling mine.
“They would come out of there head to toe covered in mud, exhausted. And while they were getting pulled up, the next group’s getting dropped in. And there was one after the next after the next,” Limani said. Searchers were using electronic devices and cameras as surface digging continued with the use of heavy equipment, Bacha said. In the coming days, they plan to greatly widen the surface hole, with winter weather forecast in the region.
Pollard's family called police at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to say she had not been seen since going out at about 5 p.m. Monday to search for Pepper, her cat. The temperature dropped well below freezing that night.
Sinkhole Rescue Operation Recovery Mission Pennsylvania Elizabeth Pollard
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