Rescue effort continues for woman who may have fallen into 30-foot sinkhole in Westmoreland County

Rescue effort continues for woman who may have fallen into 30-foot sinkhole in Westmoreland County

Pennsylvania State Police are searching for Elizabeth Pollard in Unity Township

Updated: 1:02 PM EST Dec 3, 2024

I’m here to try and give you an update and walk you through the incident that started uh yesterday and has progressed to what we’re hoping to be *** rescue mission that’s taking place right now in pleasant unity. Uh We received *** phone call before one o’clock in the morning that was from *** family member of Elizabeth Pollard. That family member had advised us that uh Mrs Pollard had gone out to look for her cat during the afternoon uh uh yesterday afternoon and has not since been heard from, they wanted to start *** missing person investigation. We followed through with that and came down to this community that uh is referred to as Marguerite amongst the, the people who who live amongst here. Uh It is in unity township to give you *** logistics. We are kind of in between uh La Trobe and Greensburg probably only five or six miles in either direction while we were doing our investigation. We were traveling in the area of what’s known as Monday’s uh union. It’s ***, it’s *** restaurant while we were here in the back of the building, we discovered the uh the victims. Mrs Pollard’s vehicle and our troopers approached the vehicle, uh, hoping to find her in there. We did not, but what we did find was her five year old granddaughter who was in the vehicle that wasn’t running. Uh, but luckily that that five year old was, was ok. Uh, the temperatures in our area were in the twenties. It was very cold last night. And during the course of our investigation, the last known sighting of Mrs Pollard was around five o’clock in the evening. So that, that lends itself to the concern of the fact that her granddaughter was in the vehicle. From roughly we’ll call it five o’clock until almost three o’clock in the morning. Uh We at that point in time realize that this could be *** very, very bad situation and while the troopers are conducting their search, they do notice that there’s *** hole only *** few feet away, maybe 15 or 20 so feet away from *** car that appears like it could be *** potential sinkhole. And to give you the description of the size of that, the best way I can describe it maybe is the size of *** of about *** manhole. And at that point in time, it becomes basically an all, all hands on deck type of scenario. And all of our emergency responders are called out to include all the local fire departments, the Westmoreland County Technical Rescue Team. Uh The Department of Mining is out here actually working alongside of, we have an excavation team that, that is out here trying to, to move dirt so that we can try and, and, and access the the hole, the sinkhole that’s been created. Um Westmoreland County Public Safety is here uh amongst many other additional organizations, I would say we probably had over 100 people here at one point in time. Uh And, and, and we also have AAA Rescue and search group called the P *** Urban Search and Rescue Group to try and help if there’s the potential for uh *** search in, in ***, in *** rescue, which is what we’re hoping for. So, with that being said, uh that’s where our investigation stands. I have uh some people here to talk to you about their role in the uh chance for *** rescue, which is what we’re trying to have *** accomplish here today. And so I’m gonna have them come up here and talk to you. I’m gonna start off with, with uh Scott. My name is Scott Graham. I’m the fire chief of Marguerite and I am the incident commander. Uh right now, our scene is still very, very active. Uh We are still in rescue mode. Uh As was stated, you know, we did have uh equipment from all over Westmore County, come in specialized equipment, come in. Uh We’ve had to bring in *** contractor with some other specialized equipment. We are working with the Bureau of Mines to be able to access the area and continue our our rescue. Uh At this point like I said, it’s still active and we are in rescue mode. You that hit jacket come over. Uh My name is John Batch. I’m the fire chief of Pleasant Energy Fire Department. Uh I was assigned as the operations officer for this incident. Uh uh The best thing I can tell you is that there is the village of Marguerite, pleasant community. *** lot of the little villages around here are old coal patch towns. Uh very common to find uh *** lot of mines uh in these areas. Um Obviously *** concern uh to, to have these mine subsidence issues. Um The whole, when we discovered it, the state police, they already had located the hole when we uh when I arrived. Um We did *** quick uh quick look at the the scene. I, I instantly realized that uh uh we needed some uh confined space rescue technicians to do that, which is I had them started immediately uh until Chief Graham arrived. Um uh We did *** quick hasty look over the hole, it uh with *** uh *** ladder and *** uh myself in *** harness and tethered to *** rope just to see if we can see somebody down in because you couldn’t even get close enough to the hole because the way it was undermined, uh we were able to take *** quick look and did not see *** victim easily through there. Um And we began uh different search operations at that time. Uh We’ve uh had an exc excavator truck from um, *** vacuum truck, excuse me, from the municipal authority, Westmoreland County we had here. Um They are still on scene that tried to be able to maneuver some dirt in an area where we think that the, the victim could possibly be. Um uh the, the mud in the thing is making it difficult for that truck to do its job like we wanted to. Um So the next step was to maneuver into an excavation company. Um We have *** construction company, *** li or construction company that has the proper equipment they were able to respond. Uh That took ***, *** disaster declaration from our local municipal uh leaders here which uh responded graciously and quickly as they always have for uh any kind of emergency situation. Yeah, we’re good. Do you wanna come over and talk about what an emergency declaration and, and what goes into that? I’m Michael Bartone. I’m the chairman of the Board of Supervisors and Unity Township. And our role in this today is to provide any assistance that are ems or fire departments or any other agency that is involved in this rescue mission. Uh So we are here to help them in any way that we can. Uh we have put *** resolution together uh today. Uh The resolution of the Township of Unity, the county of West Morton and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania declaring *** disaster emergency. And what this does is this gives uh the township as well as our ems uh uh *** chance to uh get any bit of equipment that we may need without having to deal with *** bidding process. So it’s very important that we did this today. Uh And we’re here to do whatever it takes in this rescue mission. Thank you, sir. Uh to follow through with some of the ancillary ancillary things that are happening here. I know lier construction was brought here. They have uh incredible resources and I know for that company has the ability, the capability of almost moving *** mountain. Uh The people at Monday’s Union at the, the location we’re at, they have been nothing but gracious during the entire time of, of this incident and the the sinkhole, it, it appears that it was most likely created during the time while uh unfortunately, Mr Pollard was walking around. Uh We don’t see there was no evidence of any time where that hole would have been here prior to her uh deciding to walk around looking for her, her cat. Uh And so right now, the only other information I know for *** fact that we maybe didn’t cover the five year old grandchild is with her parents and she is fine. The family has asked for privacy. They, they’ve uh they know that we were having *** press conference. They’re really trying to, to unite as ***, as *** group and try and deal with this very difficult time and they’re hoping that we get back to them with, with good news and that’s kind of where we left it with their family. Um, we’ve interviewed the, the five year old, uh, we, we, we’ve done everything we can when it comes to trying to find any information out as to, you know, when this could have taken place. And right now we all have our, our, our fingers crossed and we’re hoping everyone keeps their family and their prayers that this ends up being *** rescue mission. And that’s, that’s how we’re gonna continue to conduct ourselves. And we’ve been working pretty hard. They, they have *** ton of dirt that’s already been moved outside that I was able to actually see right prior to the press conference. So with that being said, I can’t thank you enough for your time. Uh And like I said, we’ll keep you updated. Uh If, if we have uh *** recovery by, by all means in *** reunification, then we can revisit, you know, if the family wants to talk to you guys, uh if we get any pictures or anything that we’re allowed to release, uh, we’ll provide that as well. Uh And, and, and I can’t thank you enough for your patience and try and keep the, the little town of pleasant unity uh in, in your thoughts and prayers they, they’re very, very tight knit group of people that, that live in this area. Uh They really look out for each other and I know that they could really use the, the help and, and some privacy. So, thank you, I appreciate you. Can you just describe the condition of the hole? I understand that it’s, it’s not *** very wide hole that it is, it is, it is deep. Uh And because of all of the mining that has been done, it becomes *** safety concern to try and traverse and do excavation and try and uh uh do ***, *** rescue operation. So the the the depth of the hole, uh the circumference of the hole where where the surface area is is very small. But once you get down below the surface, it gets significantly wider, right? And, and it definitely becomes more, more difficult to try and traverse that and then you, you don’t wanna risk somebody else or something else happening. Uh As we continue to try and look for it, are there any concerns of it getting bigger or another one popping up? Uh I, I, so I don’t, so the the person that’s the mining expert is working right alongside the people that are, are out there moving the dirt because he is the expert. He’s *** subject matter expert. I would much rather him answer that question than myself. Uh And I could try and get you those answers because I’m sure the people that, that live in the community are concerned. Right. There was *** sinkhole that opened up and there’s *** person that potentially appears to be in that. That’s something that I, I plan on getting better information to provide when the subject matter expert is able to take the time to educate me. I, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not uh uh the, *** renowned expert when it comes to the mining stuff. And I’ve learned *** lot in the last few hours, but not enough to speak intelligently about it, not to put *** time frame on this. But are you planning to um I mean, is there *** certain time where you can stop when it gets dark outside and continue on? We’re not stopping. We’re not yet. We, we, we, we will continue, this is ***, we will continue until we recover. And I’m II I, that’s not question that I didn’t even ask anybody permission to say, but that’s how we act in this community. And I, and I know the people that I’m standing alongside with, you know, we’re on caffeine or whatever you have to stay on, try to, to stay up to work through the night and the people that are out there digging those people uh just by working with them for all the 26 years, I’ve been *** trooper and there’s no one that’s gonna be stopping. No, they’ll, they’ll continue to work through the night. The, the only way that somebody stops is *** safety concern. These people don’t stop. They’ll, they’ll bring in new people to replace them. That’s not how this, that, that’s not how this community operates. Has there been any signs of life? Any, any tapping? Yeah. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything right now and we’re hoping through the work that we’re doing, unless something’s happened in the last hour or so since I’ve been outside and since these gentlemen have been outside, we don’t have any information at all. So it’s, as you could imagine, I don’t want to sound like saying something ridiculously obvious. It’s pitch dark down there. It’s very difficult to try and make out and, and as much as we were in *** drought, we definitely had *** wet spell there for *** little while. And I think that, you know, these underground mines could retain some of that moisture. And I, I, my guess is without being the ma the subject matter expert, that’s probably part of the reason why we can’t see as well down there and you rule out, I know the surge overnight in the woods. You out that area. Yeah, I just don’t really feel confident that could be the case. You know, we feel really confident that what we’re doing is where she should be. That hole wasn’t there earlier in the day. It wasn’t, it, it wasn’t there. People were here, they were working even though it wasn’t open uh it’s close enough to the building that somebody would have seen it. Uh, and it, everything that the experts that did, we’ll call it, um, you know, observe or inspect the hole, it appeared to be newer. So with that being said, we, we don’t feel *** reason that we should be looking elsewhere. We did take the drones out, we did do the additional work to try and rule those things out, uh, and everything and all the evidence we had pointed towards. We are in the right space. Uh You know, it was also, uh, and I’m gonna, again, I’m, I’m guessing 15 ft 20 ft from the where her vehicle was. So all those things would lead us to believe that we were in the exact right place. It’s just *** matter of now it’s doing the work and let’s be honest, we need to get *** little bit lucky, right. Uh We need *** little bit of luck on our side. We need *** little bit of God’s good blessing on our side, right? We need some of those things on our side to, to be successful and there’s no look, look and I know it’s not that far away and I’m not, I’m not gonna equate to the same thing, but this area has been successful in the past. I don’t know if it will be successful this time, but we’re gonna do everything we can and, and in this community, like the people in Southwester Pen Pennsylvania. They don’t quit when it comes to trying to save somebody’s life. That’s just all there is to it or anything. Yeah. So, unfortunately not, you know, she was just *** five year old girl that was waiting in the car for her grandmother to come back. So I can only imagine what that’s like while you’re sitting in *** car. Uh, it had to be freezing. Right, waiting for your grandma and, and you know, thank God she stayed in the car. Thank God because with the temperatures outside, with the fact that that hole was in close proximity to the vehicle, like that could have been horrific. Right? So, uh we were fortunate in that regard. I, I know that she was frightened when two large men in uniform are knocking on the window and asking her trying to get her to come out of the car. I can only imagine what, what that would be like in the eyes of *** five year old child. Right. So, uh there’s *** lot of emotions going on in our community. It’s, it’s been *** rough evening going into today. And, you know, we’re hoping that everything comes out great for the, the best outcome that we can possibly get and, and have this family. Hopefully we get lucky and something gets reunited. So if you believe, if you have faith, you could say *** prayer um or whatever it is that you, you believe in you know, ask for, for somebody to help, you know, talk about how extensive this process is. Uh maybe one of you can answer this if it not triggered. Uh Limani, just how extensive *** process this is and how dangerous it is to also go about. Um I wonder if you wanna come up here, if they come over here, she may even be the person to answer that just thinking if this opened up on her, it could open up on any one of you, you guys out there trying to rescue her within the the process, within the rescue efforts. Um Safety has been the foremost in our minds. Anybody we roped off *** certain area. Uh Anybody that entered that area, we had an accounting for uh they were harnessed, they were tied off to vehicles. Uh We limited the the individuals that could enter that area. Uh They were under supervision. Uh You know, the entire time that they were in that particular area, we cannot judge as to what’s going on underneath us because, you know, again, you had ***, *** small hole on top. But as soon as you stuck the camera down through the look, you had this big void and it was all different depths. You know, the the the process is long is tedious. We have to make sure that we are keeping safety in the, in the forefront as well as the rescue effort. This was *** co ordinated. Effort between multiple multiple agencies. Is there *** CIC area you guys are looking at and what we see from the, what it’s like that it doesn’t matter. Can you say it again, please? Could you describe *** little bit of what you see in the camera and, and so you wanna do that when you saw the camera? Yeah, but just to, to be clear, I mean, there’s *** lot of agencies that are here. We’ve used *** lot of resource, *** lot of technology. Um Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety provided us with *** couple of different cameras. One was *** pole camera that we wrote to to put down. Um It has *** listening device on it. There were no sounds anything. It’s an extremely uh uh it picks up very well. Uh So there was no sounds that were picked up. Um We were able to see with the one camera, the other one was *** rover camera that was able to put down in, in the area, the one camera we did find AAA what appears to be *** shoe. Um And it is, let’s just say it’s *** modern shoe, not something you would find in *** coal mine in Marguerite in 1940. Um So it’s *** modern type shoe. So we’re pretty, fairly confident that uh we’re, we’re doing the right thing in the right place at this point. Um The other technologies uh uh that, that there are several different things been looking. We’ve used uh, drones, we’ve used thermo engine cameras to try to, uh, to be able to get ***, uh, *** good look to make sure, um, we couldn’t physically quickly, easily see somebody and that wasn’t the case. Um We’re hoping that there’s *** void that she could still be in. Um, the problem is, um, *** confined space rescue. Anybody that’s involved with the fire service, emergency management service at all, confined space rescue is *** very intricate uh uh can be *** grueling rescue uh to deal with. You have to be very careful. Uh And safety is utmost importance. We’ve been monitoring the air levels inside of the, of the shaft the whole time since we’ve been here. So *** lot of little things like that have been going on, but there’s uh at this point uh where our next step to do this safely was to bring in the extubation crews while they’re here and doing what they’re doing now. And the temperature down there, of course, it’s warmer than it is actually. Yes, it’s warmer there. And the, and the uh all oxygen levels have been perfect. No, no carbon oxide, no co no uh uh no uh explosive gasses anything. So if the atmosphere, what we’ve been monitoring has been perfect at this point. So we, we, that’s why we still have some hope that there is *** avoiding cheese. Uh uh we’ll be able to uh get there in with the excavation company. This might seem like ***, like *** common sense question. But, so we, we all have iphones, we all have phones. Now, does she have *** phone on her at all or was it left behind in the car? Yeah, we don’t have any communication to try and connect with her and, and believe me, we’ve tapped every resource possible. So I appreciate everybody’s time and, and their consideration in the matter and if you, we can try to avoid bothering the family. Right? Mondays has been spectacular. Uh Did I reiterate that, that that hole wasn’t there that I did. I cover that part. That hole wasn’t there until sometime yesterday. Most likely, unfortunately, when she was standing over it, you had mentioned hunters were out of the area. They did not see the no, we, yeah, we had people that, that, that went hunting from this parking lot and that hole wasn’t there. So, uh, we’re hoping for the best, right? We’re hoping for the best and, and we’re saying our prayers. So I appreciate it if you could just give them *** little bit of privacy. Uh, the establishment’s been great. So if we can try and honor, we have kind of like ***, *** set up area guy for you guys for when it comes to, um, catching some of the excavation. I know that there’s *** lot of people that are concerned, uh, if we could just try and be considerate of all the people that, that live here in this community. That’s all I can ever ask. And thanks and I think you guys have to all get back to work, right? We gotta get back to the rest of the. Thank you. Thank you guys. Mhm.

Rescue effort continues for woman who may have fallen into 30-foot sinkhole in Westmoreland County

Pennsylvania State Police are searching for Elizabeth Pollard in Unity Township

Updated: 1:02 PM EST Dec 3, 2024

A large rescue effort was continuing Tuesday afternoon, as Pennsylvania State Police attempt to find a missing woman who may have fallen into a 30-foot sinkhole in Unity Township, Westmoreland County.State police talk about search efforts: Watch the news conference in the video abovePolice, firefighters, EMS and construction officials are involved in the rescue mission in the area of Marguerite Road, near Monday’s Union Restaurant. Trooper Steve Limani said the search will not stop and will continue through the night if necessary.Police said 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard may have fallen into the hole, and her 5-year-old granddaughter was found in a car nearby, and was fine.Police said Pollard was last seen around 5 p.m. Monday, and they were called on Tuesday morning. Investigators said she was looking for her cat, Pepper.About 100 people were helping with the search and rescue. Crews were using a vacuum truck to suck debris out of the sinkhole.”That hole wasn’t there earlier in the day. People were here, they were working. It’s close enough to the building that somebody would have seen it, and everything that the experts that did observe or inspect the hole, it appeared to be newer. So, with that said, we don’t feel a reason that we should be looking elsewhere,” Limani said. “We did take the drones out, and do the additional work to try and rule those things out. All the evidence we have pointed towards, we are in the right space. It’s also 15 feet, 20 feet from where her vehicle was.””Now it’s doing the work, and let’s be honest. We need a little bit of luck on our side. We need a little bit of God’s good blessing on our side. We need some of those things on our side to be successful.”Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Bacha said he was in a harness, tethered to a rope, as crews used a ladder to take a quick, initial look at the hole.”You couldn’t even get close enough to the hole because of the way it was undermined. We were able to take a quick look, and we did not see a victim easily through there and we began different search operations at that time,” Bacha said.The rescue efforts are happening under an emergency declaration by Unity Township.”This gives the township, as well as our EMS, a chance to get any bit of equipment that we may need without having to deal with a bidding process,” said Mike O’Barto, chairman of the township’s board of supervisors.Construction equipment from a Ligonier company has been brought to the scene to help with the search efforts. The state mining department was also on scene, trying to do some excavation to help searchers gain access to the hole.”The sinkhole, it appears that it was most likely created during the time while, unfortunately, Miss Pollard was walking around,” Limani said. “There is no evidence of any time where that hole would have been here prior to her deciding to walk around looking for her cat.””The village of Marguerite, Pleasant Unity, a lot of little villages around here are old coal patch towns. Very common to find a lot of mines in these areas, obviously a concern to have these mine subsidence issues,” Bacha said.Stay with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 and the WTAE app for updates.Download the WTAE app to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news in your inbox.

UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. —

A large rescue effort was continuing Tuesday afternoon, as Pennsylvania State Police attempt to find a missing woman who may have fallen into a 30-foot sinkhole in Unity Township, Westmoreland County.

State police talk about search efforts: Watch the news conference in the video above

Police, firefighters, EMS and construction officials are involved in the rescue mission in the area of Marguerite Road, near Monday’s Union Restaurant. Trooper Steve Limani said the search will not stop and will continue through the night if necessary.

Police said 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard may have fallen into the hole, and her 5-year-old granddaughter was found in a car nearby, and was fine.

Police said Pollard was last seen around 5 p.m. Monday, and they were called on Tuesday morning. Investigators said she was looking for her cat, Pepper.

About 100 people were helping with the search and rescue. Crews were using a vacuum truck to suck debris out of the sinkhole.

“That hole wasn’t there earlier in the day. People were here, they were working. It’s close enough to the building that somebody would have seen it, and everything that the experts that did observe or inspect the hole, it appeared to be newer. So, with that said, we don’t feel a reason that we should be looking elsewhere,” Limani said. “We did take the drones out, and do the additional work to try and rule those things out. All the evidence we have pointed towards, we are in the right space. It’s also 15 feet, 20 feet from where her vehicle was.”

“Now it’s doing the work, and let’s be honest. We need a little bit of luck on our side. We need a little bit of God’s good blessing on our side. We need some of those things on our side to be successful.”

Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Bacha said he was in a harness, tethered to a rope, as crews used a ladder to take a quick, initial look at the hole.

“You couldn’t even get close enough to the hole because of the way it was undermined. We were able to take a quick look, and we did not see a victim easily through there and we began different search operations at that time,” Bacha said.

The rescue efforts are happening under an emergency declaration by Unity Township.

“This gives the township, as well as our EMS, a chance to get any bit of equipment that we may need without having to deal with a bidding process,” said Mike O’Barto, chairman of the township’s board of supervisors.

Construction equipment from a Ligonier company has been brought to the scene to help with the search efforts. The state mining department was also on scene, trying to do some excavation to help searchers gain access to the hole.

“The sinkhole, it appears that it was most likely created during the time while, unfortunately, Miss Pollard was walking around,” Limani said. “There is no evidence of any time where that hole would have been here prior to her deciding to walk around looking for her cat.”

“The village of Marguerite, Pleasant Unity, a lot of little villages around here are old coal patch towns. Very common to find a lot of mines in these areas, obviously a concern to have these mine subsidence issues,” Bacha said.

Stay with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 and the WTAE app for updates.

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