Tampa area man swallowed by sinkhole

BRANDON, Fla. (AP) — A large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, trapping a 34-year-old man in the rubble.

The home collapsed late Thursday in a Brandon neighborhood. By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

Fire rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico says Bracken Engineering officials determined the home's bedroom is the center of the sinkhole, which measures about 100 feet across.

Engineering officials will return later Friday morning with more sophisticated monitoring equipment to determine the actual diameter and depth of the sinkhole.

Tampa TV station WFTS (http://bit.ly/ZOHH3f) reports the man's brother tried to pull him from the sinkhole. An arriving deputy was able to pull the brother from the still collapsing sinkhole.

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Information from: WFTS-TV, http://www.wfts.com/