Authorities fear a woman in western Pennsylvania who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed by a sinkhole.
Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole on Tuesday but no sound was detected, while a second camera lowered down showed what could be a shoe. Rescuers worked through the night and on Wednesday.
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FILE - TDOT workers assess damage done by a sinkhole on eastbound Interstate 24 near Grundy County Tuesday May 18, 2010 near Chattanooga, Tenn. (Danielle Moore/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, File)
FILE - This photo provided by Brunswick County Sheriff's Office shows a police officer checking on a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole on a highway in Brunswick County, N.C., after a storm dropped historic amounts of rain, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Brunswick County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
FILE - Officials stand on one edge of a giant sinkhole on the property of the Louisville Zoo, Wednesday, March 6, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via AP, File)
FILE - A sinkhole is shown after opening in the road at the intersection of McAlpin Street and McLawren Terrace in The Villages, Florida, on Monday, May 21, 2018. (George Horsford/Daily Sun via AP, File)
FILE - A St. Louis police officer looks over a large hole in 6th Street, Thursday, June 29, 2017, in St. Louis, that swallowed a Toyota Camry between Olive and Locust Streets. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)
Rescue workers search through the night 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)
Police say Elizabeth Pollard's relatives called police at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to say she hadn’t been seen since Monday evening when she went to search for her cat. They found Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter in her parked car near the manhole-sized opening.
Here are some things to know about sinkholes:
A sinkhole is an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage and can form when the ground below the land surface can no longer support the land above, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The land usually stays intact for a period of time until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then a sudden, dramatic collapse of the land surface can happen.
Sinkholes are most common in what geologists call karst terrain, which involves types of rock including limestone below the land surface that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. They can also happen due to old underground mines.
The most damage from sinkholes in the U.S. tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Florida, for example, is highly susceptible to sinkholes because it sits above limestone.
Sinkholes can range in size from holes that are just a few feet wide to ones that cover a vast area spanning hundreds of acres. Their depth can also vary from just a few inches to more than 100 feet (more than 30 meters). Some are shaped like shallow bowls or saucers, whereas others have vertical walls. Some hold water and form ponds.
In June, a giant sinkhole in southern Illinois swallowed the center of a soccer field built on top of a limestone mine, taking down a large light pole and leaving a gaping chasm where squads of kids often play. No one was hurt.
In 2023, a sinkhole that in 2013 fatally swallowed a man sleeping in his house in suburban Tampa, Florida, reopened for a third time, but it was behind chain-link fencing and caused no harm to people or property. Officials said the sinkhole reopening was not unusual, especially in central Florida with its porous limestone base.
A large sinkhole opened up in 2020 in South Dakota near where a man was mowing his lawn. Testing revealed a large, improperly sealed mine beneath part of the housing subdivision, and a 40-foot-deep (12-meter-deep) pit mine in another corner of the neighborhood, a lawyer for some of the area homeowners said. Since the first giant collapse, more sinkholes have appeared.
A large sinkhole that swallowed oil field equipment and some vehicles in southeastern Texas in 2008 expanded in 2023 when another sinkhole developed and joined the first one.
FILE - TDOT workers assess damage done by a sinkhole on eastbound Interstate 24 near Grundy County Tuesday May 18, 2010 near Chattanooga, Tenn. (Danielle Moore/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, File)
FILE - This photo provided by Brunswick County Sheriff's Office shows a police officer checking on a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole on a highway in Brunswick County, N.C., after a storm dropped historic amounts of rain, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Brunswick County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
FILE - Officials stand on one edge of a giant sinkhole on the property of the Louisville Zoo, Wednesday, March 6, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via AP, File)
FILE - A sinkhole is shown after opening in the road at the intersection of McAlpin Street and McLawren Terrace in The Villages, Florida, on Monday, May 21, 2018. (George Horsford/Daily Sun via AP, File)
FILE - A St. Louis police officer looks over a large hole in 6th Street, Thursday, June 29, 2017, in St. Louis, that swallowed a Toyota Camry between Olive and Locust Streets. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)
Rescue workers search through the night 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)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A group led by left-wing activists filed a second impeachment complaint against the Philippine vice president on Wednesday over her alleged misuse of government funds and demanded that she be permanently barred from holding public office.
The impeachment complaint filed by at least 74 activists, including human rights, labor and student leaders, before the House of Representatives reflects the extent of the political hostilities faced by Vice President Sara Duterte. She did not immediately comment on the new impeachment complaint or an earlier one filed Monday.
Duterte, a 46-year-old lawyer, is the daughter of also-controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a bloody anti-drug crackdown while in office. The killing of thousands of suspects during the crackdown is being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.
Her No. 1 political adversary has been President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom she publicly threatened with death in a Nov. 23 online news conference.
Government investigators have launched a criminal investigation into her threat against the president, his wife and the speaker of the House of Representatives, a cousin and ally of Marcos. Duterte has tried to walk back her comments by saying they were not a direct death threat but rather an expression of concern for her own safety.
The complaint filed Wednesday accused the vice president of “betrayal of public trust over the illegal use and mishandling of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3 million) in confidential funds,” according to a statement by the complainants.
The impeachment complaint said that in addition to the alleged misuse of the confidential and intelligence funds, the vice president and her staff allegedly tried to cover up the irregularities by submitting fabricated reports, receipts and documents to the Commission on Audit and deliberately obstructing a congressional investigation.
It said that in December 2022, the vice president’s office spent 125 million pesos ($2 million) in 11 days during the Christmas holidays for suspicious expenditures, including renting “safe houses,” paying for unspecified confidential information and financing rewards, which it said were not clearly explained by Duterte.
“Wasting the confidential funds is a big betrayal of the people,” said Liza Maza, a leading complainant from the Makabayan political coalition. “This is not just a simple technical violation but a systematic misuse and robbery of public funds.”
“The impeachment is the antidote to impunity,” said Renato Reyes of Bayan, another left-wing political coalition. “Citizens and taxpayers need to hold public officials accountable.”
On Monday, a group of civil society activists, including Roman Catholic priests and pro-democracy activists, filed an initial impeachment case that contained about 24 alleged crimes and irregularities, including her death threats against Marcos and her alleged role in the extra-judicial killings of drug suspects under her father's crackdown. She was also accused of failing to stand up to Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea.
The impeachment complaints will be examined by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos and his cousin and key backer, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who also has been politically at odds with the vice president.
The process could take weeks or months. Congress is to start its Christmas recess on Dec. 20 and resume on Jan. 13. Many legislators will then start campaigning for reelection ahead of the May 12 midterm elections.
The House has been investigating the alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary. She has since left the education post.
She has refused to respond to questions in detail in tense televised hearings. Philippine police have filed criminal complaints against Duterte and her security staff for allegedly assaulting authorities and disobeying orders in an altercation in Congress over the brief detention of her chief of staff, who was accused of hampering the congressional inquiry into the alleged misuse of funds.
The National Bureau of Investigation subpoenaed Duterte to face investigators on Dec. 11 about her threats against the president.
Marcos and Duterte won landslide victories as running mates in the 2022 election but have since fallen out over key differences. The two offices are elected separately in the Philippines, which has resulted in rivals occupying the country’s top political posts.
Associated Press journalists Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.
House Secretary General, Reginald Velasco, left, receives a second impeachment complaint filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte by a group led by left-wing activists on Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
House Secretary General, Reginald Velasco, left, signs a document as a second impeachment complaint is filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte by a group led by left-wing activists on Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Activists hold a copy of a second impeachment complaint filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
House Secretary General, Reginald Velasco, center, receives a second impeachment complaint filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte by a group led by left-wing activists on Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
House Secretary General, Reginald Velasco, left, receives a second impeachment complaint filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
