Florida Sinkhole Opened Under Bedroom Swallowing A Man (VIDEO)
A large Florida sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, swallowing a 34-year-old man in the rubble.
The home collapsed late Thursday in a Brandon neighborhood. By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.
Fire rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico says Bracken Engineering officials determined the home’s bedroom is the center of the sinkhole, which measures about 50 feet in each direction.
Engineering officials will return later Friday morning with more sophisticated monitoring equipment to determine the actual diameter and depth of the sinkhole.
Tampa TV station WFTS (http://bit.ly/ZOHH3f) reports the man’s brother tried to pull him from the sinkhole. An arriving deputy was able to pull the brother from the still collapsing sinkhole.
The 36-year-old man “is presumed dead” after the incident Thursday night, according to Jessica Damico, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Fire Department.
“It’s not confirmed, but I think it’s safe to presume,” she said.
Engineers used monitoring equipment to search for signs of life without success. Some of the equipment went missing in the process.
“There is no evidence of him being alive,” she said.
VIDEO