A Florida man is missing Friday and feared dead after a huge sinkhole opened up under his bedroom in the middle of the night, sucking him into the earth as he screamed for help.
Local media, including WFLA.com, NBC's station in Tampa, have identified the victim as 36-year-old Jeffrey Bush.
Officials and engineers lowered equipment into the sinkhole but didn't see any sign of life. The victim’s brother, Jeremy Bush, was at the home near Tampa around 11 PM Thursday night. He said it only took seconds to get to his brother’s bedroom, where he tried to jump into the hole to save him.
"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," he said. "But I just couldn't do nothing."
Jeremy Bush had to be helped out of the sinkhole by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Duvall while the bedroom was still collapsing.
"I reached down and was actually able to get him by his hand and pull him out of the hole. The hole was collapsing. At that time, we left the house," Duvall said.
When Duvall arrived, there was nothing left of the bedroom, according to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico.
"There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up," Damico said.
"We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn't see anything compatible with life," Damico said. "The entire house is on the sinkhole."
Neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, five adults, one child, and two dogs were inside the house when the sinkhole tore through it. Except for the victim, everyone else in the house escaped safely.
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