Authorities announced Friday that the days-long search for a Pennsylvania grandmother who fell down a sinkhole while looking for her cat ended tragically when rescuers discovered her death.
According to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani, the remains of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard were discovered around 30 feet below the surface at approximately 11:05 a.m.
Pollard was last observed in Unity Township, approximately 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, at 5 p.m. on Monday. She plunged into a decades-old mining shaft after falling through a sinkhole.
According to state police on Wednesday, the search became more of a recovery effort rather than a rescue operation.
As the search and rescue’s commander of operations, Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire commander John Bacha stated, “Obviously, it would have been best if we could have found her alive.” Unfortunately, after a while, we realized it was probably not going to happen.
According to officials at the news conference, the family expressed gratitude that their loved one’s body was located and rescued by searchers who worked for more than 80 hours over three and a half days.
“Like to have had a better outcome,” said incident commander Marguerite Fire Chief Scot Graham. “We were able to bring Elizabeth home.”
On Monday, a relative reported Pollard missing.
The 5-year-old granddaughter was still in her car when state troopers found it parked next to a restaurant. Despite the frigid weather, the grandchild was in good health, according to the authorities.
Authorities discovered the sinkhole between 15 and 20 feet from Pollard’s vehicle.
After the recovery and rescue are finished, engineers will try to strengthen any potential erosion points.
“They re going to talk about putting a grout in there, eventually and shoring up the entire entire area,” Limani stated.
Authorities asked homeowners to call the state and keep a look out for potential sinkholes because most of southwestern Pennsylvania is covered in abandoned mines.
“My hope is that a tragedy like this never happens again,” stated Mike O. Barto, the supervisor of Unity Township.
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