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Florida sinkhole: A man in Florida fell into a sinkhole that opened up beneath his bedroom. His family was able to escape but he is still trapped inside.
A Tampa, Florida man fell into a sinkhole that opened up underneath his bedroom on late Thursday, according to reports.
“I heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house,” Jeremy Bush, the brother of the man who fell inside, told CNN. “I heard my brother screaming and I ran back there and tried going inside his room, but my old lady turned the light on and all I seen was this big hole, a real big hole, and all I saw was his mattress.”
Bush stood in the hole in an attempt to dig out the debris as police arrived. Bush and three other people, including a small child were able to escape the home, but there were no signs of Jeff Bush, the man who fell into the hole.
“We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn’t see anything compatible with life,” Hillsborough County Fire Rescue department spokeswoman Jessica Damico told Fox News.
Officials with the department said it is too dangerous to try and check the home, fearing it has become too unstable.
“Right now, the potential for a collapse is very, very high,” Damico added. “There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up,” she said.
Damico said the sinkhole is around 30 feet across but likely is around 100 feet across, just below the surface. According to CNN, the sinkhole is naturally occurring and might be as deep as 50 feet.
“I know in my heart he’s dead,” Jeremy Bush told the broadcaster. “But I just want to be here for him, because I love him, he was my brother, man.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said that sinkholes are common in the state. There have also been a number of sinkholes recently in China and Louisiana.
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