Searchers seek to recover 2 missing in Guatemala sinkhole

By SONIA PÉREZ D.
Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The search for a mother and daughter whose car plunged into a huge sinkhole in Guatemala has changed to a recovery effort, three days after they disappeared. The chief of volunteer firefighters conducting the operation said Tuesday that searchers are working gingerly by hand at the bottom of the pit but that “the possibility of finding survivors is nil.” Authorities ordered businesses within 200 yards of the hole to close as dirt and asphalt continued to fall into the pit, sometimes sending vibrations through the surrounding surface. Felipe Mejía is the father-in-law and grandfather of the two missing women. He stood about 50 yards from the edge of the sinkhole with other relatives Tuesday hoping for word on the pair. Mejía says he wants efforts to find his relatives to continue.