Tampa area man swallowed by sinkhole

SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) — A man is missing after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa and his brother says the man screamed for help as the collapse happened.

The 36-year-old man's brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico says when the brother got there, the bedroom was gone and all he saw was part of a mattress sticking up.

There's been no contact with the man since then. Neighbors on both sides of the Seffner home have been evacuated.

Code enforcement deemed it unsafe for rescue workers to continue until engineers can determine the borders of the sinkhole. Damico says the sinkhole is estimated at about 100 feet across.