Granddaughter was still in the car Woman searches for cat - and is swallowed up by sinkhole
In the US state of Pennsylvania, a woman is believed to have disappeared in a sinkhole. A large team is now searching for her.
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- A 64-year-old woman is believed to have been swallowed up by a sinkhole in the US state of Pennsylvania.
- Police said they found the woman's car near a restaurant.
- Her five-year-old granddaughter was still in the car.
A 64-year-old woman has presumably been swallowed by a sinkhole in the US state of Pennsylvania. Relatives alerted the police on Tuesday night when the woman did not return from searching for her cat. According to authorities, it is quite likely that the woman disappeared in a man-sized sinkhole that only now appeared in the town of Marguerite in western Pennsylvania.
Police said they found the woman's car near a restaurant. Her five-year-old granddaughter was still in the car. According to police spokesman Steve Limani, she had dozed off there. Her grandmother never returned. What happened to the lost cat also remained unclear.
Emergency services search the hole
The sinkhole had not been discovered by hunters and restaurant employees who were in the area. The emergency services therefore assume that there is a new sinkhole: "We are pretty sure that we are in the right place. We're hoping there's another cavity where she could be," John Bacha, the head of the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Department, told local media.
Responders searched the hole with pole cameras, excavators and hoses and discovered what could be a shoe. The hole had grown to the size of a swimming pool by Tuesday evening.
Police explained that sinkholes or sinkholes occur in this area due to subsidence caused by coal mining. They are now investigating whether the hole was actually caused by subsidence from the Marguerite mine, which was last operated in 1952.
dpa
