Man vanishes as 30m hole opens under house

A man is missing after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, Florida.

Jeff Bush, 36, was heard screaming for help following a loud crash at around 11pm local time on Thursday, his brother, Jeremy, told rescue crews.

“When he got there, there was no bedroom left,” Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. “There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up.”

Jeremy Bush called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother. An arriving deputy had to pull Jeremy from the still-collapsing house.

There has been no contact with Jeff Bush since, and neighbours on both sides of the Seffner, Hillsborough County, home have been evacuated.

Damico said the sinkhole is about 9.1m wide at the surface but spreads to about 30m across below the surface.

“The entire house is on the sinkhole,” Damico said.

From the outside, there were no cracks or visible signs of damage to the home. The front door was open, but taped off.

The brothers’ aunt, Janell Wheeler, told the Tampa Bay Times she was inside the house with four other adults, a child, and two dogs when the sinkhole opened.

“It sounded like a car hit my house,” she said.

She said it was dark, and she heard screams and one of her nephews rushing to rescue his brother, trapped in the debris.