A nightmarish tragedy occurred in Florida Thursday night when a sinkhole opened up beneath a house and swallowed a man alive. The sinkhole opened suddenly beneath the bedroom of a suburban Tampa home, consuming a man who was in the room.
"I heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house," Jeremy Bush said to CNN affiliate WFTS. "I heard my brother screaming and I ran back there and tried going inside his room, but my old lady turned the light on and all I seen was this big hole, a real big hole, and all I saw was his mattress."
Jeremy tried rescuing his brother, Jeff, from the rubble but he was pull away from the home by police who said the scene was still too dangerous and that the floor was still collapsing, the report stated.
Jeremy and four other people, including a two-year-old, escaped the one-story home, shaken, but unharmed.
Jeff was presumed dead after monitoring equipment failed to detect signs of life after it was lowered into the sinkhole, the article stated.
The sinkhole is reportedly 20 to 30 feet across and may be 30 feet deep. A safety zone 100 feet across has been established and nearby home have been evacuated as a precaution.
"It started in the bedroom, and it has been expanding outward and it's taking the house with it as it opens up," said Bill Bracken, president of the engineering company assisting emergency workers on the scene.
About 40 rescue workers were on the scene, the report stated. Bush's family members remained nearby as well, fearing the worst.
"I know in my heart he's dead," Jeremy said. "But I just want to be here for him, because I love him. He was my brother, man."
The home in Hillsborough County lies in an area known as "sinkhole alley," where two-thirds of sinkhole-related insurance claims in Florida are filed, the report stated.
Sinkholes are occur when bedrock is eaten away by acidic groundwater, eventually collapsing when the rock can no longer support the weight from above.
Photos of the scene in Florida can be found here.
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