Rescue efforts to find man lost in Florida sinkhole called off

Florida rescue personnel on Saturday announced the search for a Florida man who disappeared into a sinkhole that swallowed his whole bedroom while he was asleep in his suburban Tampa home had ended.

“My sympathies go out to the family and to all of their friends and the neighbors here who have gone through this horrible tragedy.  The mission has changed because we can no longer sustain a rescue effort.  We met with the family, we advised them of that and this point we have to move beyond the rescue to this demolition phase and the securing of the site,” said Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill.

Jeff Bush, 36, is presumed dead, was in bed when the other five members of the household who were getting ready for bed on Thursday night heard a loud crash and Jeff screaming.

Jeff’s brother, 35-year-old Jeremy Bush, jumped into the hole and furiously kept digging to find his brother.

Jeremy himself had to be rescued from the sinkhole by the first responder to the emergency call, Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. When Duvall entered Jeff Bush’s bedroom, all he saw was a widening chasm but no sign of Jeff.

Authorities have not detected any signs of life after lowering listening devices and cameras into the hole.

“The sinkhole is extremely large.  It’s a huge chasm, extending down 50-60 feet.  With all the equipment we’ve brought in and specialized help we have just not been able to locate Mr. Bush and so for that the rescue effort has been discontinued,” Merrill said.

Soil samples showed that the sinkhole has compromised the ground underneath a home next door, engineers said Saturday.

Rescue officials said that in addition to soil samples, they were focusing on engineering analysis, ground penetration radar and other techniques to determine the extent of the ongoing collapse. Listening devices have been used to detect any evidence of life although they never retrieved any sounds of Jeff Bush.

The risk of sinkholes is common in Florida due to the state’s porous geological bedrock, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. As rainwater filters down into the ground, it dissolves the rock, causing erosion that can lead to underground caverns, which cause sinkholes when they collapse.