Searchers 'are in the area now' where Unity woman fell into sinkhole

Investigators believe they are narrowing in on where a Unity woman fell through a sinkhole in the village of Marguerite and has been missing since.

“We are in the area now where we believe that she went down,” Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Trooper Steve Limani said Thursday afternoon.

Authorities are searching for Elizabeth Pollard, 64, who went missing Monday evening while looking for her missing cat. Investigators believe she was swallowed by a sinkhole, falling at least 30 feet and crashing through the roof of the long-abandoned Marguerite Mine. An around-the-clock search-and-rescue mission was called off late Wednesday, shifting to a recovery effort taking place from dawn to dusk.

Crews spent the day Thursday using heavy equipment to dig out large mounds of earth from the sinkhole in an effort to access the location in the mine where Pollard might be.

Limani said searchers Friday will drill holes a few inches in diameter to drop cameras into the mine.

“Kind of where we can’t reach (with excavation equipment) anymore,” he said.

There are still areas that can be excavated in the vicinity of where Pollard is believed to have fallen.

Limani said crews are trying to open two other areas that were mine entrances to try to fly drones in.

“We’re going to excavate that area and look for any signs of evidence that would lead us to believe that they were hers, whether it be clothing, her or any belongings,” he said.

Searchers are excavating the site based on 75-year-old maps of the mine’s shafts.

“We took all of the (map) overlays and came up with a simplified version of where she fell,” he said. “She fell through the earth, and it appears she crashed through the ceiling of the mine shaft. She fell into an area where a lot of intersecting ‘fingers’ split off, which if you think about it is probably one of the weaker spots amongst this complex.”

Excavating crews worked Thursday to dig under existing mine passageways before turning upward toward the area where Pollard is believed to be, Limani said.

“It might look like they’re just digging and digging, but everything is happening in a very measured way,” he said. “We’re analyzing each scoop as it comes out.”

Limani described it as a “surgical” removal of dirt.

From what crews could see on camera footage, the mine itself “has a lot of depressions and very rough terrain,” he said.

“There were areas where we were able to see almost 100 yards with the camera, but it’s been very inconsistent,” he said. “With the deterioration of the ground over the past 75 years, the dirt in the sinkhole sort of formed a cone shape, so when Ms. Pollard fell, it’s possible she could have rolled in one direction or the other.”

Excavation had largely taken place on the eastern and western sides of the original sinkhole, but Crabtree fire Chief Bill Watkins, a member of the response team that has been part of the search, said Thursday’s strategy was to excavate north and south.

“We were in there with robots, the water company camera, and we did see a couple promising things, but it was too difficult for the excavator arm to get there,” Watkins said.

According to a map available on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Mine Map Atlas, crews were digging near the mine’s southern end, where a tangle of tunnels crisscross and converge.

“We’re going to bring in cameras to search in some of these caverns, and we have dogs on standby,” Limani said. “It’s definitely going to be a bit of a slow go.”

After the excavation is complete, an investigation will take place, according to DEP spokesperson Lauren Camarda.

“Once police and emergency response have cleared the scene, DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation will work to determine if this issue is the result of abandoned mine subsidence, and then evaluate the next steps at that time,” Camarda said.

The DEP is responsible for resolving problems related to mining that took place before 1977.

In addition, its Bureau of Mine Safety has worked closely with police and first responders throughout the search.

Work has resumed Thursday morning at the Unity Twp excavation site where Elizabeth Pollard is believed to have taken into a sinkhole. @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/VGHYUXXYH5

— Patrick Varine - Tribune-Review (@VarineTrib) December 5, 2024

About Marguerite mine

The area above the former Marguerite mine is no stranger to erosion, damage and sinkholes.

The 48-acre mine was active through World War II. The Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation describes the mine as a “labyrinth of tunnels,” adding that after the mine was abandoned, the ground above it “began to look like a moonscape of sinkholes and subsidence.”

Coalition officials also said the former mine passageways acted as water conduits, and the mine has discharged rust-colored water several times over the decades.

In the early 2000s, Ligonier-based Coal Loaders entered into an agreement with the mine’s owners to “re-mine” it, an operation that also involved reducing its water-pollution discharge and regrading the land.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha, who has served as operations manager for the search effort, said officials’ only information about what they might find underground was on old, hand-drawn maps they received from DEP.

Patrick Varine and Megan Swift are TribLive staff writers. They can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com and mswift@triblive.com.

Search for woman in sinkhole:

• Wednesday: 'It's been difficult:' Unity sinkhole rescue effort turns into recovery mission
• Unity residents concerned as recovery search for woman continues in abandoned mine
• What to know about sinkholes amid fears a Unity woman fell into one
• Tuesday: Search and rescue teams gain access to mine where Unity woman fell down sinkhole, fresh crew arrives
• DEP suspects Unity sinkhole caused by abandoned mine