Woman Who Fell Into Sinkhole Is Found Dead

U.S.|Woman Who Fell Into Sinkhole Is Found Dead

A 64-year-old woman who fell into a sinkhole in a former coal mining community in western Pennsylvania on Monday evening, apparently while looking for her missing cat, has been found dead, the authorities said on Friday.

The authorities found the body of the woman, Elizabeth Pollard, about 30 feet below the surface on Friday morning after they used an excavator to dig into the sinkhole in Unity Township, Pa., Trooper Steve Limani of the Pennsylvania State Police said. There was no sign of her cat, named Pepper, Trooper Limani said.

The discovery ended about four days of intensive searching that at one point involved more than 140 people, including firefighters from 25 fire departments, Trooper Limani said. Timothy Carson, the Westmoreland County coroner, said it would most likely be several weeks before his office determined the cause and manner of Ms. Pollard’s death.

“It’s a very, very sad case,” Mr. Carson said.

“We pretty much had every E.M.S. and volunteer fire department to help in the search,” he added. “At times, it was deemed too dangerous. They had to watch where they were digging.”

The authorities said on Wednesday that Ms. Pollard was presumed dead because there had been no signs of life after two days of rescue efforts. But the confirmation that she had died devastated those who knew her.

“I am more happy that they found her, but not in the condition we were hoping for,” Ms. Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, said in an interview. “We were hoping she had maybe fallen and hit her head and was maybe unconscious or in a coma and that it wouldn’t come to this.”