Elizabeth Pollard, woman who fell into sinkhole while looking for cat, found dead after 4-day search

UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — After more than 80 hours across days of searching, crews located the body of Elizabeth Pollard, a 64-year-old woman from Westmoreland County, in the abandoned mine she fell into through a sinkhole Monday night.

“Today was a blessing from God,” said Trooper Steve Limani of the Pennsylvania State Police.

That’s how many crews felt Friday after finding Pollard.

Crews said they were starting to feel deflated, and were concerned a reunion for the family and Pollard wasn’t going to happen.

“I couldn’t have been more happy for the family that we were able to find her,” Limani said. “That was the only thing they were concerned with after yesterday was if they could have her so they could do what’s right with a memorialized service and having a viewing and all of the things everyone should deserve to have.”

Pollard was found 30 feet below the ground, 12 feet away from the area where the initial sinkhole opened beneath her feet while she was searching for her cat.

“When she fell through the shaft, and she landed and struck that mound of, like, we’ll call it a Hershey kiss, it appears she rolled or moved that 12 feet or so where our initial spot was,” Limani explained.

Troopers said crews with Ligonier Contracting dug more than four times the area around the initial sinkhole to find Pollard after the plan to have rescuers going down into the mine had to change.

They also were not able to send anyone down into the mine Friday to recover Pollard’s body.

“To recover Elizabeth today we used machinery instead of sending folks down into the mine structure itself because as we were still working today we still had collapse of the mine roof and mine sides,” said Chief Scot Graham of the Marguerite Volunteer Fire Department who was head of Incident Command.

Now, the work starts on filling this hole back up and making sure the mine is shored up and secure.

“It’s for lack of better terms, it’s like they’re pumping concrete into the mines, they call it a grouting of some sort,” Limani explained. “They were talking about doing it in the very near future.”

Limani said Monday’s Union Restaurant is safe, as is the parking lot around it.

It’s unclear if their garage behind the restaurant that is close to the mine will have to come down.

He said the township and fire department will help them clean get reopened for next week after serving as the incident command headquarters all week. He also thanked the restaurant and several other local restaurants for providing food for crews involved in the search.

The coroner is performing an autopsy to determine how Pollard died, whether from injuries from her fall, or from conditions down in the mine.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says if anyone is concerned about depressions on their property that could be caused by mine subsidence to give them a call at 814-472-1800. They will send a crew out to check as soon as possible to help prevent something like this from happening again.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued the following update on the Westmoreland County mine subsidence incident:

Now that Pennsylvania State Police have released the site, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has begun stabilization and reclamation of the sinkhole and mine subsidence site in Westmoreland County today. DEP has already coordinated with the federal Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) to ensure that contracts for the reclamation work could be executed as soon as possible. DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation will be overseeing emergency work to fill the excavated area at the incident site, drill and pump a cement-like grout to stabilize the Marguerite Mine void in the immediate area to prevent additional subsidence, and eliminate the hazard.

DEP’s coordinated response to the incident:

DEP’s Bureau of Mine Safety dispatched to the incident site on December 3, and remained onsite during active search, rescue, and recovery operations to provide technical support and air monitoring to the search and rescue teams, contractors, and emergency responders. DEP provided safety oversight for access into the mine and conducted safety inspections of the site to ensure stability and a safe work environment. The Bureau of Mine Safety has a primary role in health and safety oversight and compliance for active underground mines across the Commonwealth. While the Bureau of Mine Safety typically oversees health and safety compliance for active underground mines, they extended their expertise to assist emergency responders during this operation.

Abandoned mines in PA and what the public can do:

Pennsylvania is home to one-third of the nation’s abandoned mine lands. While the DEP works to mitigate public health and safety hazards associated with these sites and responds to emergencies as they arise, it does not conduct inspections of abandoned underground mines and advises the public to avoid them.

DEP’s toll-free number is 866-255-5158 and asks for the public’s help in reporting any environmental concern. DEP also receives complaints via its website: https://www.dep.pa.gov/About/Regional/SouthwestRegion/Pages/Environmental-Complaints.aspx.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group