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Sinkhole Grows As Search For Florida Man Presumed Dead Continues

Chima Simone |
March 2, 2013 | 12:34 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

The sinkhole that collapsed Jeff Bush's home is located in Hillsborough County--an area known as Sinkhole Alley. Neighboring homes have been evacuated. Photo Credit, Michael Theis.
The sinkhole that collapsed Jeff Bush's home is located in Hillsborough County--an area known as Sinkhole Alley. Neighboring homes have been evacuated. Photo Credit, Michael Theis.
Dangerous. That is what engineers declared the lot above a growing sinkhole that swallowed a Florida man while he was asleep in his suburban Tampa home. According to the New York Times, the entire house could succumb to the unstable ground.

Jeff Bush is still missing and presumed dead after he disappeared down the sinkhole that devoured his whole bedroom Thursday night. Jeff's brother, Jeremy Bush, jumped into the hole and attempted to rescue his brother, but could not find him and had to be pulled out by the first responders to the 911 call.

Authorities continued searching for him Saturday, but have not detected any signs of life after lowering listening devices and cameras into the hole. "He's down there, but we can't hear here anything and we can't see anything," said Ronnie Rivera, a spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. "We just can't do anything."

Bill Bracken, the owner of an engineering company assisting fire and rescue, described the earth below the sinkhole as a “very large, very fluid mass.” He added, "We are still trying to determine the extent and nature of what's down there so we can best determine how to approach it and how to extricate."

Sinkholes are common in Florida. Over 500 sinkholes have been reported in the area since 1954, according to the state's environmental agency.

Originally estimated at 15 feet deep on Thursday, this sinkhole now measures 30 feet across and up to 100 feet deep and continues to grow.

Read more on the Florida sinkhole here.

Follow Executive Producer Chima Simone on Twitter.



 

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