A deadly sinkhole that opened beneath a man’s bedroom has been captured on video. Filmed shortly after the tragedy occurred, the footage gives a haunting glimpse into the massive pit that claimed the life of 37-year-old Jeff Bush.
On February 28, Jeff Bush was asleep at his Seffner, Florida home when a massive sinkhole suddenly opened beneath his bedroom floor. Instantly sucked into the hole and buried alive, his body was never recovered. A newly released video shows the magnitude of the deadly sinkhole and the devastation it left behind.
The sinkhole bedroom video was shot by a Hillsborough County contractor before the house was demolished. Secured by a safety tether, he attached the camera to a lengthy pole and slid it through Jeff’s bedroom window.
The footage is a shocking glimpse into the roughly 60-foot-deep sinkhole that essentially consumed everything in the room.
The video shows how almost every inch of the bedroom floor was destroyed and replaced by a massive hole. There is no sign of the furniture, television, or personal belongings that were sucked into the hole during the tragic event.
In the footage, all that appears to remain inside the cavernous opening is dirt.
Janell Wheeler was sleeping in the bedroom next to Jeff’s when the sinkhole appeared. Rushed from the property by rescue responders, she had not witnessed the magnitude of the sinkhole until the video footage was released.
“I cannot believe it’s that deep,” she explained . “I figured just a little hole. I just can’t imagine, that it’s that deep.”
Jeremy Bush, Jeff’s brother, has expressed appreciation for the sinkhole bedroom video. He feels it will help to educate people about what happened that fateful night.
“It’ll help people understand what was going on and what the county saw that everybody else couldn’t see,” he explained. “I think about him all the time and I hear him in my head hollering for me to help him still. It’s just really hard.”
Jeremy attempted to save his brother from the sinkhole but was restrained by a Hillsborough Sheriff’s Deputy because rescue attempts were too dangerous. The video footage also helped Jeremy Bush come to terms with the reasons his brother’s body could not be recovered after the incident.
You can watch the contractor’s haunting sinkhole bedroom video below:
Shortly after Jeff’s death, the Bush home was condemned and destroyed. The sinkhole was filled in, and the houses on each side of the property were evacuated. Along with the release of the sinkhole bedroom video, an announcement was made confirming that both of those homes have now been condemned.
Chuck Halloway, who lives next door to one of the condemned houses, is worried that his home could be next. “We’re all worried about this place around here,” he confessed. “They tear this house down, what am I going to do? I don’t know.”
With the news of more houses being condemned and the release of the sinkhole bedroom video, residents of Seffner are understandably wary. However, the county has reportedly indicated that soil samples taken from other parts of the neighborhood exhibit no signs of sinkhole activity.
[Top image via Shutterstock ]