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4 missing after Quebec home falls in sinkhole
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 9:11 AM ET
CBC News
A landslide triggered this nine-metre deep sinkhole that swallowed a family home Monday night in Saint-Jude, Que. The parents and two children are missing. (CBC)
Quebec emergency workers are searching for a family of four who disappeared after a sinkhole swallowed their house Monday night.
The collapse happened just after 9:30 p.m. in Saint-Jude, a town of 1,000 north of St-Hyacinthe near the Yamaska River.
A driver passing the area alerted police about the massive crater, after his truck fell into the hole, said Quebec provincial police Sgt. Ronald McKinnis. The driver escaped with minor injuries.
Local authorities say the family was in the house at the time — a man and woman in their 40s, and two children aged nine and 11.
Firefighters tried to approach the collapsed house Monday night to search for the family members, but the ground was too unstable, McKinnis said.
'It was dark, and we couldn't see well, but we could see the house at the bottom of the crater.'
—Saint-Jude Mayor Yves de Bellefeuille"We tried to reach them by phone, because the father always wears his cellphone on him," McKinnis told CBC. "The firefighters heard the cellphone, but they weren't able to [locate] it."
A police helicopter was brought in and circled the crater for two hours but no movement was seen, McKinnis added. The helicopter resumed its air search first thing Tuesday morning.
Saint-Jude Mayor Yves de Bellefeuille said he rushed to the crater as soon as police alerted him about the accident on Monday night.
"It was dark, and we couldn't see well, but we could see the house at the bottom of the crater" police say is at least nine metres deep, de Bellefeuille told CBC's French-language service.
He said he could see the basement was already filling up with groundwater. "It was very hard to look at."
The tightly knit community is in shock, with many admitting to feeling anxious about the risk of more sinkholes in the area, de Bellefeuille added.
Provincial authorities dispatched a trauma team to Saint-Jude's City Hall, including psychologists who are available to speak with residents concerned about the safety of their homes, the mayor said.
The sinkhole stretches for about half a kilometre, and occurred in an area not usually prone to landslides.
Five nearby homes were evacuated as a preventive measure.
Geological experts will visit the site later Tuesday to determine its stability, before giving the go-ahead for families to return home.
The identity of the missing family hasn't been released.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 9:11 AM ET
CBC News
A landslide triggered this nine-metre deep sinkhole that swallowed a family home Monday night in Saint-Jude, Que. The parents and two children are missing. (CBC)
Quebec emergency workers are searching for a family of four who disappeared after a sinkhole swallowed their house Monday night.
The collapse happened just after 9:30 p.m. in Saint-Jude, a town of 1,000 north of St-Hyacinthe near the Yamaska River.
A driver passing the area alerted police about the massive crater, after his truck fell into the hole, said Quebec provincial police Sgt. Ronald McKinnis. The driver escaped with minor injuries.
Local authorities say the family was in the house at the time — a man and woman in their 40s, and two children aged nine and 11.
Firefighters tried to approach the collapsed house Monday night to search for the family members, but the ground was too unstable, McKinnis said.
'It was dark, and we couldn't see well, but we could see the house at the bottom of the crater.'
—Saint-Jude Mayor Yves de Bellefeuille"We tried to reach them by phone, because the father always wears his cellphone on him," McKinnis told CBC. "The firefighters heard the cellphone, but they weren't able to [locate] it."
A police helicopter was brought in and circled the crater for two hours but no movement was seen, McKinnis added. The helicopter resumed its air search first thing Tuesday morning.
Saint-Jude Mayor Yves de Bellefeuille said he rushed to the crater as soon as police alerted him about the accident on Monday night.
"It was dark, and we couldn't see well, but we could see the house at the bottom of the crater" police say is at least nine metres deep, de Bellefeuille told CBC's French-language service.
He said he could see the basement was already filling up with groundwater. "It was very hard to look at."
The tightly knit community is in shock, with many admitting to feeling anxious about the risk of more sinkholes in the area, de Bellefeuille added.
Provincial authorities dispatched a trauma team to Saint-Jude's City Hall, including psychologists who are available to speak with residents concerned about the safety of their homes, the mayor said.
The sinkhole stretches for about half a kilometre, and occurred in an area not usually prone to landslides.
Five nearby homes were evacuated as a preventive measure.
Geological experts will visit the site later Tuesday to determine its stability, before giving the go-ahead for families to return home.
The identity of the missing family hasn't been released.
Source
they will be found quickly and be alive
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