SEFFNER, FLA.—Florida rescue workers have ended their efforts to recover the body of a man who disappeared into a sinkhole that swallowed his bedroom while he slept in a suburban Tampa home, and a public safety official said the house will be demolished.
Jeff Bush, 36, who is presumed dead, was asleep when the other five members of the household who were getting ready for bed on Thursday night heard a loud crash and Jeff’s screams.
“Our data has come back, and there is absolutely no way we can do any kind of recovery without endangering lives of workers,” said Jessica Damico, a spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
She said demolition of the home will begin Sunday morning.
Authorities using listening devices and cameras did not detect any signs of life at the scene.
“There’s no way of possible survival,” Damico said.
Jeff Bush’s brother, Jeremy, jumped into the hole when it first opened up Thursday and dug furiously in an effort to find Jeff.
“I thank the Lord for not taking my daughter and the rest of my family,” Jeremy said Saturday.
Jeremy himself had to be rescued from the hole by the first responder, Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Duvall said all he saw when he entered the bedroom was a widening chasm and no sign of Jeff.
“The hole took the entire bedroom,” said Duvall. “You could see the bedframe, the dresser, everything was sinking.”
Norman Wicker, 48, the father of Jeremy’s fiancée, who also lived in the house, said the collapse “sounded like a car ran into the back of the house.”
Ronnie Rivera, another spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, said Saturday that tests showed one of the homes next to the Bush house was also compromised by the sinkhole.
He said that family, who were evacuated Friday, would be allowed to go inside for half an hour to gather belongings. They were outside, crying and organizing boxes.
Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below strata of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.
Experts say the underground of west central Florida looks similar to Swiss cheese, with the geography lending itself to sinkholes.
“I cannot tell you why (the Bush house) has not collapsed yet,” said Bill Bracken, the owner of an engineering company called to assess the sinkhole. He described the dirt below it as a “very large, very fluid mass.”
Sinkholes are so common in Florida that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger. While some cars, homes and other buildings have been devoured, it’s extremely rare for them to swallow a person.
A sinkhole near Orlando grew to nearly 120 metres across in 1981 and devoured five sports cars, most of two businesses, a three-bedroom house and the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool.
More than 500 sinkholes have been reported in Hillsborough County alone since the government started keeping track in 1954, according to the state’s environmental agency.
Jeff Bush, 36, who is presumed dead, was asleep when the other five members of the household who were getting ready for bed on Thursday night heard a loud crash and Jeff’s screams.
“Our data has come back, and there is absolutely no way we can do any kind of recovery without endangering lives of workers,” said Jessica Damico, a spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
She said demolition of the home will begin Sunday morning.
Authorities using listening devices and cameras did not detect any signs of life at the scene.
“There’s no way of possible survival,” Damico said.
Jeff Bush’s brother, Jeremy, jumped into the hole when it first opened up Thursday and dug furiously in an effort to find Jeff.
“I thank the Lord for not taking my daughter and the rest of my family,” Jeremy said Saturday.
Jeremy himself had to be rescued from the hole by the first responder, Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Duvall said all he saw when he entered the bedroom was a widening chasm and no sign of Jeff.
“The hole took the entire bedroom,” said Duvall. “You could see the bedframe, the dresser, everything was sinking.”
Norman Wicker, 48, the father of Jeremy’s fiancée, who also lived in the house, said the collapse “sounded like a car ran into the back of the house.”
Ronnie Rivera, another spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, said Saturday that tests showed one of the homes next to the Bush house was also compromised by the sinkhole.
He said that family, who were evacuated Friday, would be allowed to go inside for half an hour to gather belongings. They were outside, crying and organizing boxes.
Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below strata of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.
Experts say the underground of west central Florida looks similar to Swiss cheese, with the geography lending itself to sinkholes.
“I cannot tell you why (the Bush house) has not collapsed yet,” said Bill Bracken, the owner of an engineering company called to assess the sinkhole. He described the dirt below it as a “very large, very fluid mass.”
Sinkholes are so common in Florida that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger. While some cars, homes and other buildings have been devoured, it’s extremely rare for them to swallow a person.
A sinkhole near Orlando grew to nearly 120 metres across in 1981 and devoured five sports cars, most of two businesses, a three-bedroom house and the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool.
More than 500 sinkholes have been reported in Hillsborough County alone since the government started keeping track in 1954, according to the state’s environmental agency.
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