Video Reveals Depths of Florida Sinkhole

Seffner sinkhole killed Jeffrey Bush
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 3, 2013 8:23 AM CDT
Video Reveals Depths of Florida Sinkhole
A screen grab from video of a Florida sinkhole.   (Bay News 9 via Tampa Bay Times)

The first good look into the Florida sinkhole that claimed Jeffrey Bush's life has been released. A video obtained by Bay News 9 shows the 60-foot-deep chasm, from which authorities weren't able to recover Bush's body. It was taken through the bedroom window before the home was demolished, using a pole with a camera attached to the end. "It looks totally different than from when I saw it," says Bush's brother, Jeremy, who jumped in to try to save Jeffrey before needing a rescue himself.

"It's much deeper ... You can't even see his bed or anything," he notes. "It's all disappeared." A contractor who spoke with the TV station observed that the room's concrete appears far thinner than today's standards demand: "That was definitely less than four inches. I would say even less than two inches in some spots." A wire mesh, which also appeared to be absent in the 1974 home, would have prevented the floor from crumbling, he believes. However, Bay News 9 notes that a rep for the county says workers did observe a "welded wire fabric" in some of the sections of slab it hauled away. (More Florida stories.)

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