A search-and-rescue effort was underway in Pennsylvania on Tuesday after a grandmother searching for her cat appears to have plunged into a sinkhole that authorities said was at least 30 feet deep.
Elizabeth Pollard, 64, has not been heard from since Monday, when authorities believe she fell into the manhole-size opening in Unity Township, roughly 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, officials said at a news conference.
After they lowered rover and pole cameras into the former coal mine, authorities heard no sounds but saw what seemed to be a shoe, Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Chief John Bacha told reporters.
“It’s a modern shoe — not something you’d find in a coal mine in Marguerite in 1940,” Bacha said, noting the area where the sinkhole was discovered.
He added that authorities are “fairly confident that we’re doing the right thing in the right place at this point.”
It isn’t clear whether Pollard has a phone. State Police Trooper Steve Limani said officials have been unable to reach her.
Officials learned that Pollard was missing after a relative called 911 around 1 a.m. Tuesday and reported not having heard from her since she'd gone to look for her cat the previous afternoon, Limani told reporters.
Troopers discovered her car behind a local restaurant, Limani said. Inside was her 5-year-old granddaughter, who'd been there since 5 p.m. the previous day, Limani said.
"Thank God she stayed in the car," Limani said, noting that despite frigid temperatures the girl was in good condition.
One of the troopers searching for Pollard nearly fell into the sinkhole, which Limani said was roughly 15 to 20 feet from Pollard's car.
"It became an all-hands-on-deck scenario," he said, with dozens of people called to the scene, including search-and-rescue personnel, a mining expert, an excavation team and other first responders.
Because of the shaft's uncertain condition, Bacha said, authorities have to respond carefully. Although the circumference of the opening is only the size of a manhole, it quickly becomes significantly wider and challenging to traverse, he said.
For now, Bacha said, the conditions appear favorable, with temperatures that are warmer than above ground and oxygen levels that have remained stable.
Limani said he remains hopeful that the mission will end with a rescue.
"That's how we're going to continue to conduct ourselves," he said.