The final moments of a man who tragically died after a sinkhole engulfed his entire bedroom have been recounted by his brother.
Jeffrey Bush, a resident of Florida, disappeared over a decade ago when a sinkhole suddenly formed beneath his Tampa home.
Shockingly, the sinkhole consumed Jeff’s entire bedroom, taking him with it.
The incident occurred on 1 March 2013, with the sinkhole estimated to be about 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep, opening directly under Jeff’s bedroom.
His brother, Jeremy, has since shared the heartbreaking final moments of his sibling.
In an interview with CNN’s ‘AC360’, the devastated brother recounted how he “ran toward” the bedroom to help, but by the time he got there, “everything was gone.”
“The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn’t care,” Jeremy recalled.
“He was screaming my name. I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him. I wanted to save my brother. But I just couldn’t do nothing.”
Jeremy also shared with The Guardian how he had jumped into the hole in an attempt to save his brother.
Risking his own life, Jeremy noted that all he could see was “the cable wire running from the TV going down into the hole,” along with “a corner of the bed and a corner of the box spring and the frame of the bed.”
When police arrived, an officer had to pull Jeremy out to prevent him from suffering the same fate.
Rescue crews then began their efforts to save Jeff, lowering specialized equipment into the sinkhole.
However, Hillsborough County fire rescue spokesperson Jessica Damico confirmed there were no signs of Jeff, and ongoing monitoring showed no signs of life either.
The ground and the house were deemed too dangerous for engineers to enter after a few days.
Jeremy’s wife and daughter were present in the house during the tragic event.
He mentioned that his daughter missed her uncle.
“She keeps asking where her Uncle Jeff is. I lost everything. I work so hard to support my wife and kid and I lost everything,” Jeremy said.
Florida frequently experiences sinkholes due to the limestone beneath the soil, which can dissolve during prolonged periods of rain.
In 2022, approximately 27,000 sinkhole incidents were reported across Florida, according to data from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.