危险的搜索失踪的祖母警方周三表示，世卫组织官员认为落入宾夕法尼亚州一个深坑的人现在被认为是一种恢复努力。
自周二警方称伊丽莎白·波拉德在寻找她的猫后杳无音信后被报告失踪以来，团结镇一个废弃煤矿的挑战性挖掘工作一直在进行。
官员们说，这个天坑被认为与矿井有关，是波拉德在该地区行走时形成的。
宾夕法尼亚州警察史蒂夫·利马尼说，当局“几乎肯定”她在矿井中，尽管根据地下的条件，包括氧气水平，不相信她在这个阶段仍然活着。
“我知道我们有很多希望，”利马尼在周三晚上的新闻发布会上说，称进展“困难”
“除非是奇迹，否则最有可能是恢复，”利马尼说，后来他指出，在这个阶段“肯定是恢复”。
他说，救援人员一直在向矿井中泵入氧气，尽管氧气“低于人们试图维持生命所需的水平”。
他说，相机和声音设备没有发现任何生命迹象，这将使他们不顾搜索人员面临的风险，试图紧急推进。
他说，当局已经与波拉德的家人进行了一次“情绪化”的谈话，向他们通报了恢复工作的最新情况。
“感觉我们失败了，”情绪激动的利马尼说。“但如果有人受伤，我认为情况会更糟。”
利马尼说，工作人员将继续努力寻找波拉德，并为周四恢复搜索的恶劣天气做准备。
“我们不会放弃，”他说。“我们将继续努力解决这个问题。只是时间比我们想象的要长。而矿井就是状况不好。”
警方称，波拉德最后一次被看到是在周一晚上。警方说，周二凌晨3点前不久，她的车被找到，她5岁的孙女安全在车内，但波拉德不见了。
据宾夕法尼亚州警察史蒂夫·利马尼说，在该地区搜寻波拉德时，警察在离车辆15至20英尺远的地方发现了一个明显的天坑，其开口大约有“下水道口大小”。
利马尼说，当地消防队员、一个技术救援队和州矿山安全局与一个挖掘队一起清除泥土，以进入天坑。
Limani说，搜索人员能够进入矿区，尽管矿井的完整性已经被他们用来破碎地面的水所破坏。他说，矿井的一些部分已经开始弯曲和坍塌。
“我们担心，如果试图继续使用我们正在使用的技术，情况会变得更糟，”他说。
Limani说，天坑形成的地方有“非常薄的土层”，并且似乎已经恶化了“很长一段时间”。Limani说，天坑附近的其他地区被认为是不安全的，将在警方的24小时监视下被隔离。
据该州环境保护部门称，该矿最后一次开采是在1952年。该部门发言人说，该地区煤层的深度约为20英尺。
这位发言人说，一旦现场清理完毕，该部门将对现场进行调查，“以确定这一问题是否是历史上矿井沉陷的结果”。
Search for woman in sinkhole shifts to recovery effort: Police
The dangerous search for amissing grandmotherwho officials believe fell into a deep sinkhole in Pennsylvania is now considered a recovery effort, police said Wednesday.
A challenging excavation has been underway at an abandoned coal mine in Unity Township since Tuesday when police said Elizabeth Pollard was reported missing after she was not heard from after searching for her cat.
The sinkhole is believed to be tied to the mine and formed while Pollard was walking in the area, officials said.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said authorities are "virtually positive" that she is in the mine, though do not believe she could still be alive at this stage based on the conditions underground, including the level of oxygen.
"I know we had a lot of hopes," Limani said during a press briefing Wednesday evening, calling the development "difficult."
"Unless it's a miracle, most likely it's recovery," Limani said, later noting that it's "definitely recovery" at this stage.
Rescue crews have been pumping oxygen into the mine, though it's "lower than what you'd want for someone to try and sustain their life," he said.
Cameras and sound devices have not found any signs of life that would warrant them to try to push ahead with urgency at the risk posed to search crews, he said.
He said authorities have had an "emotional" conversation with Pollard's family to update them on the shift to a recovery effort.
"It feels like we failed," an emotional Limani said. "But if somebody else gets hurt, I think it would be worse."
Limani said crews will continue to work to recover Pollard and are preparing for inclement weather to resume the search on Thursday.
"We're not quitting," he said. "We are going to continue to work through this. It's just taken longer than we thought. And the mine is just not in good condition."
Pollard was last seen Monday evening, police said. Her vehicle was located shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday with her 5-year-old granddaughter safe inside, though Pollard was nowhere to be seen, police said.
While searching for Pollard in the area, troopers found an apparent sinkhole with an opening about the "size of a manhole" 15 to 20 feet away from the vehicle, according to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani.
Local firefighters, a technical rescue team and the state's Bureau of Mine Safety worked alongside an excavation team to remove dirt to access the sinkhole, Limani said.
Search crews were able to make entry into the mine area, though the integrity of the mine has been compromised by the water they are using to break up the ground, Limani said. Parts of the mine have started to buckle and collapse, he said.
"We're afraid we're going to make it worse if try to continue to plow forward with the techniques that we were using," he said.
The area where the sinkhole formed has a "very thin layer of earth" and appears to have been deteriorating "for a long time," Limani said. Other areas near the sinkhole have been deemed unsafe and will be quarantined off with round-the-clock police surveillance, Limani said.
The mine last operated in 1952, according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection. The depth to the coal seam in this area is approximately 20 feet, a department spokesperson said.
Once the scene is clear, the department will investigate the site "to determine if this issue is the result of historic mine subsidence," the spokesperson said.
