Sinkhole in Pennsylvania probably swallowed missing grandmother, police say

Published

5 months ago

December 5, 2024

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A woman who went missing while looking for her cat was likely swallowed by a sinkhole, authorities have said.

Elizabeth Pollard vanished after leaving with her granddaughter to search for her pet on Monday evening in Pennsylvania, but her family alerted authorities when she had not returned by the early hours of Tuesday.

The 64-year-old’s vehicle was found with her unharmed five-year-old granddaughter inside around two hours later near a freshly opened sinkhole above a long-closed, crumbling mine.

But police say the search operation has now turned into a recovery effort, after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life.

Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said authorities no longer believed they would find Ms Pollard alive, but that work to find her remains continued.

“Unless it’s a miracle, most likely this is a recovery,” he said.

There has been no signs of any form of life or anything to make rescuers think they should continue the search effort, he said, noting that oxygen levels below ground were insufficient.

“We feel like we failed. It’s tough.”

He praised the crews who went into the abandoned mine to help remove material during the search for Ms Pollard in the village of Marguerite, around 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Authorities had said earlier that the roof of the mine had collapsed in several places and was not stable.

“We did get, you know, where we wanted, where we thought that she was at. We’ve been to that spot,” Pleasant Unity Fire chief John Bacha, the incident’s operations officer, said.

“What happened at that point, I don’t know, maybe the slurry of mud pushed her in one direction. There were several different seams of that mine, shafts that all came together where this happened.”

Geological engineer Paul Santi, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said the chances of Ms Pollard surviving if she slipped into the sinkhole were “pretty small.”

“I would be surprised if she came through this OK,” he said.

“It would require that she wasn’t killed by the fall, she wasn’t killed by the rock, that there was an air pocket and she’s able to survive in it.”

Sinkholes occur regularly in the area because of subsidence from coal mining activity.

Mr Limani said the searchers met with Ms Pollard’s family before announcing the shift from rescue to recovery.

“I think they get it,” he said.

Ms Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, described her as a happy woman who at one point owned 10 cats. She and her husband adopted Mr Hayes and his twin brother when they were infants.

He called her “a great person overall, a great mother” who “never really did anybody wrong.”

US

Mark Carney’s body language during his Trump meeting spoke volumes

Published

4 hours ago

May 6, 2025

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Mark Carney's body language during his Trump meeting spoke volumes

Donald Trump welcomed Mark Carney to an Oval Office refurbished, in his words, “with love and carat gold”.

But there was more gold than love on display when they got around to discussing the annexation of Canada.

The US president said it would be “better” for the people of Canada, opening the door for the inevitable response.

Prime Minister Carney replied that he had met with the people, “the owners of Canada” during the campaign, adding: “Canada is not for sale.”

His approach, largely shutting the debate down, can be summed up in four words: the people have spoken.

Trump latest: President meets Carney in Oval Office

Listing the White House and Buckingham Palace among other places “not for sale”, his answer on the 51st state question appeared well prepared.

But when it came to the issue of tariffs, the new premier struggled to get a word in edgeways.

Instead, his body language spoke volumes – the clenched jaw, a hand raised several times in an attempt to interject, and the silent mouthing of two words – “never, never”.

That was Carney’s response when Trump suggested never saying never to the annexation question.

Diplomats on both sides will be relieved that the meeting was more cordial than the prelude.

Just moments before the Canadian prime minister arrived, the US president launched a scathing attack on the neighbours.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump posted: “Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 billion a year, in addition to giving them FREE military protection, and many other things?”

If that was a $200bn bid for Canada, the people have spoken and their message to the former real-estate tycoon now occupying the White House is very clear: “Canada is not for sale.”

US

Pete Hegseth’s order to cancel weapons to Ukraine caught White House off guard, says report

Published

4 hours ago

May 6, 2025

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Pete Hegseth's order to cancel weapons to Ukraine caught White House off guard, says report

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth cancelled military aid to Ukraine without a direct order from Donald Trump about a week after he was sworn in as president, according to a report.

The pause led to the US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) stopping 11 flights from US bases in Delaware and Qatar which were loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and had been bound for Ukraine, according to Reuters.

Hours later, Ukrainian and Polish officials then asked Washington what was happening but top national security officials in the White House, Pentagon and US State Department were unable to provide answers, said the news agency.

Trump latest: ‘Some places are never for sale’, Carney tells president

The pause came as Ukraine’s military was struggling to fight off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been forced out.

Reuters reported that records it reviewed showed Mr Hegseth had given a verbal order to stop the weapons shipments soon after attending an Oval Office meeting on 30 January, where cutting military aid to Kyiv was discussed, but Mr Trump did not give an instruction to stop it.

The president was unaware of Mr Hegseth’s order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, Reuters said.

According to TRANSCOM records, the verbal order originated from Mr Hegseth’s office, the news agency claimed. It added that a TRANSCOM spokesperson said the command received the order via the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

Within a week – 5 February, the military flights were back in the air.

Asked to comment on the report, the White House told Reuters that Mr Hegseth had followed a directive from President Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration’s position at the time.

It did not explain why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, top national security officials in the normal decision-making process did not know about the order or why it was so swiftly reversed.

‘Complex and fluid situation’

“Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

“The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”

It is unclear if Mr Trump subsequently questioned or reprimanded Mr Hegseth.

Mr Hegseth and other top US officials, including national security adviser Mike Waltz, came under fire in March after a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat where they discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

Waltz ultimately intervened

Reuters reported Mr Waltz ultimately intervened to reverse the military aid cancellations. Mr Waltz was forced out last Thursday and has been nominated as US ambassador to the United Nations.

The cancellations cost TRANSCOM $2.2m (£1.6m), according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In response to a request for comment, TRANSCOM said that the total cost was $1.6m (£1.2m) – 11 flights were cancelled but one incurred no charge.

An order halting military aid authorised under the Biden administration went into effect officially a month later, on 4 March, when the White House made an announcement.

Despite the brief pause in February and the longer one that began in early March, the Trump administration has resumed sending the last of the aid approved under Mr Biden. No new policy has been announced.

US

Donald Trump denies posting AI image of himself as pope

Published

11 hours ago

May 6, 2025

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Donald Trump denies posting AI image of himself as pope

Donald Trump has denied posting an AI image of himself as pope – and said Catholics who were offended “can’t take a joke”.

A picture of the president wearing white and gold robes in the style of a pontiff was posted to his account on Truth Social and caused outcry among some Christians.

“I had nothing to do with it, somebody made a picture of me dressed like the Pope and they put it out on the internet,” he said on Monday.

“That’s not me that did it, I’ve got no idea where it came from, maybe it was AI.”

When it was pointed out to him that some Catholics were offended by the image, he replied: “Oh, they can’t take a joke.”

“The Catholics loved it,” he also claimed.

President Trump insisted that he first saw the image – which was posted on Friday night on his Truth Social account and later promoted by the White House on its official X account – on Sunday evening.

He also noted that first lady Melania Trump “thought it was cute”.

President Trump was not baptised as a Catholic and therefore is ineligible to be pope, neither is he allowed to participate in the conclave.

Some 133 cardinal electors – those under the age of 80 – will take part in the conclave and begin voting for the new pontiff on Wednesday after the death of Pope Francis last month.

The rituals of the event, held in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, are elaborate and date back centuries.