A man is presumed dead after a Florida sinkhole beneath his home caved in, but police cannot investigate further due to the fact the house is not stable enough to enter.
The Florida sinkhole opened up last night under the house in Seffner, and the man believed killed and his brother were in the home at the time of the incident along with several other people.
The Florida sinkhole — believed to measure at around 100 feet wide — quickly engulfed most of a bedroom. A local news source gives a harrowing account from the surviving brother, who quickly responded to his sibling’s screams:
“The 36-year-old man’s brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help… Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico says when the brother got there, the bedroom was gone and all he saw was part of a mattress sticking up.”
It has been nearly 10 hours since the Florida sinkhole engulfed the home, and the unsafe circumstances have as of now prevented emergency workers from making any contact with the man presumed dead after the incident. He has not been identified in press reports.
Another local news source on the scene near the Florida sinkhole reports that first responders have attempted to detect “signs of life” but believe the man was killed as none were found:
“The man was presumed dead, she said, after monitoring equipment lowered by engineers detected no signs of life… But rescuers can’t go into the hole to check — it’s too dangerous. Authorities say they worry the hole is still spreading and the house could collapse at any time.”
The Florida sinkhole is part of a naturally occurring phenomenon in which underground activity creates an undetectable yet unstable surface, and the state is known to experience them from time to time.