Search extends into the night for Pennsylvania woman who may have fallen into sinkhole

A grandmother looking for her lost cat apparently fell into a sinkhole that had recently opened above an abandoned western Pennsylvania coal mine and rescuers worked late into the night Tuesday to try and find her.

Bright lights illuminated snow flurries and various equipment at the site while crews worked above and below ground, video from the scene showed.

Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole in Marguerite on Tuesday morning but it detected nothing. A camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface, according to Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson, Trooper Steve Limani.

“It almost feels like it opened up with her standing on top of it,” Limani said.

The family of Elizabeth Pollard, 64, called police at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to say she had not been seen since going out Monday evening to search for Pepper, her cat.

Police said they found Pollard's car parked near Monday's Union Restaurant in Marguerite, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. Pollard's 5-year-old granddaughter was found safe inside the car.

The manhole-sized opening had not been seen by hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard's disappearance, leading rescuers to speculate the sinkhole was new.

Authorities used an excavator to dig in the area, where temperatures dropped to below freezing overnight.

“We are pretty confident we are in the right place. We’re hoping there is still a void she could be in,” Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company Chief John Bacha told Triblive.

By late afternoon, searchers were using access to a mine to try to find her and had dug a separate entrance out of concern that the ground around the sinkhole opening was not stable. Authorities vowed to keep searching for Pollard until she is found.

Pollard lives in a small neighborhood across the street from where her car and granddaughter were located, Limani said.

The young girl “nodded off in the car and woke up. Grandma never came back," Limani said. The child stayed in the car until two troopers rescued her. It's not clear what happened to Pepper.

Police said sinkholes are not uncommon because of subsidence from coal mining activity in the area.

A team from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which responded to the scene, concluded the underground void is likely the result of work in the Marguerite Mine, last operated by the H.C. Frick Coke Company in 1952. The Pittsburgh coal seam is about 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface in that area.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Neil Shader said the state’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation will examine the scene after the search is over to see if the sinkhole was indeed caused by mine subsidence.

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

This Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. image provided by the Pennsylvania State Police shows the top of a sinkhole in the village of Marguerite, Pa., where rescuers were searching for a woman who disappeared. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Dylan Holloway had a goal and assist to help lift the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

Robert Thomas also had an empty-net goal for the Blues, who are on a four-game point streak.

Kyrou and Holloway gave the Blues a 2-0 lead and scored 39 seconds apart during four-on-four play in the second period. Kyrou scored with 1:56 left in the period after his rebound went off Mark Scheifele’s skate, and Holloway notched his eighth goal of the season when he put in his own rebound past Connor Hellebuyck with 1:17 remaining.

Kyrou made it 3-0 at 6:38 of the third when Holloway, who was sitting on the ice, sent him a pass in the high slot.

Holloway extended his point streak to four games (four goals and three assists).

Joel Hofer made 22 saves for St. Louis, and Hellebuyck stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced for the Jets.

Scheifele was the lone goal-scorer for the Jets, who have lost four consecutive games and are 1-5-0 in their past six.

Blues: Holloway and Kyrou were the engines propelling St. Louis. Kyrou finished with seven shots on goal and hit a post.

Jets: Winnipeg only won 36.2% of faceoffs and had a hard time getting pucks on net as the Blues blocked 14 shots.

The Jets were already having a sluggish second period when Kyrou and Holloway scored 39 seconds apart.

The Blues have picked up points in their past four games (3-0-1) — all under new head coach Jim Montgomery since he was hired on Nov. 24.

The Jets visit the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, the same day the Blues visit the Calgary Flames.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save on a St. Louis Blues shot as Logan Stanley (64) slides in front of the net during the third period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Canada Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) makes a save on a Winnipeg Jets shot as Cole Perfetti (91) looks for the rebound during the third period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Canada Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save on St. Louis Blues' Radek Faksa (12) during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) makes a save on a Winnipeg Jets shot during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Tuesday December 3, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save on St. Louis Blues' Jordan Kyrou (25) during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)