Sinkhole victim presumed to be dead

Mar 2 2013

In a matter of seconds, the earth opened under Jeff Bush's bedroom and swallowed him up like something from a horror film. About the only thing left was the TV cable running down into the hole.

Mr Bush, 37, is presumed dead, the victim of a sinkhole - a hazard so common in Florida that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger.

The sinkhole, estimated at 20ft across and 20ft deep, caused the home's concrete floor to cave in as everyone in the house in Seffner, near Tampa, was turning in for the night.

It gave way with a loud crash that sounded like a car hitting the house and brought Mr Bush's brother running.

Jeremy Bush said he jumped into the hole but could not see his brother and had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy who reached out and pulled him to safety as the ground crumbled around him.

"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," a distraught Mr Bush. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

He added: "I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him."

Officials lowered equipment into the sinkhole and saw no sign of life, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico. A dresser and the TV set had vanished down the hole, along with most of Mr Bush's bed.

"All I could see was the cable wire running from the TV going down into the hole. I saw a corner of the bed and a corner of the box spring and the frame of the bed," Mr Bush said.

County administrator Mike Merrill described the home as "seriously unstable" and said no one could go inside because experts were afraid of another collapse and losing more lives. The soil around the home was very soft and the sinkhole was expected to grow, he said.