The bodies of a Canadian couple and their two daughters were found late Tuesday in the basement of their house that plunged into a massive sinkhole, CNN affiliates reported.
"They were found very close to one another, some of them lying on the couch in the family room in the basement, where we were told that they'd be," said Michel C. Doré, Quebec's associate deputy public security minister, who was on the scene, told CNN affiliate CBC.
Yvon Desrochers, uncle of homeowner Richard Préfontaine, told the CBC on Tuesday feared his nephew and his family were in the basement watching the Montreal Canadiens-Pittsburgh Penguins hockey playoff game Monday night when the ground gave way beneath the home, about 40 miles northeast of Montreal.
Besides Préfontaine, those in the home were his wife, Lyne Charbonneau, and their two daughters, Amélie, 12, and Anaïs, 9.
The family’s dog was found alive – caked in mud – in the sinkhole earlier Tuesday.
The hole was about 500 yards long and forced the evacuation of five other homes in the town of Saint-Jude, in a rural area near the Yamaska River.
While there was no official word on the cause of the sinkhole, geologist Judith Patterson told CNN affiliate CTV that the sinkhole looked like a kind of landslide known as a “lateral spread.”
The region has soils known as “quick clay” that can liquefy, leading to a landslide or sinkhole, she told CTV.
"These clays, they're stable when they're undisturbed. But once they're disturbed, then they become very hazardous," she told CTV.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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So many insensitive comments! Very disheartening..........
Man, that would suck! Literally! Slluuurrrrpppp!!
Wow. I had just read an article on Fred Phelps when I came upon this sinkhole story. My earlier comment was a swipe at Phelps, although I see many took it seriously..
It is clear the Fred Phelps has admirers out there. I am pleased to see that he also has plenty of detractors. As Jeva observed, open any story for comments and it will quickly become a place for people to vent their personal hatreds. Because if they said in public the kind of things they write in places like this they would, at the least, be instant pariahs and possibly beaten to a pulp by one of the people they insulted who happened to be bigger than them.
I believe there are more reasonable people out there than there are hate-mongerers, but the latter sure take up a lot of real estate in forums such as these.
With that, I will wait for the Phelps supporters to emerge from under their rocks...
Does human nature dictate that any online discussion on any topic must necessarily go wildly off-topic and turn nasty within a dozen or so posts? Now there's a thesis topic for some budding sociologist!
To all those speaking out about God. What is your proof that there is no God, it is your belief correct? Just as my belief is there is a God and Heaven, I cannot prove it exists but neither can you prove that it does not. Personal beliefs are just that and get over yourself please.
Troy.
When the sinkhole collasped the earth flowed through the house as it was being moved thirty metres from it's origanal spot.
Wow John the agnostic – I don't think I've ever agreed with anyone more than you. You write the truest words, particularly regarding let's blame God again. I'm also agnostic, have been since I was 10 and figured it out all for myself. And you're also right about horrible things happening. The minute we're born, we're headed for death and we don't get to choose the why or the when. It's just going to happen, sometimes not so nicely. But still not a nice way to go for this poor family.
I sometimes wonder with all the sinkholes, earthquakes, storms, etc. if this planet is just going to implode one of these days. You can't suck all the good stuff out and bury the garbage continuously in old Mother Earth. She's going to protest one of these days and it will happen when it happens. Again, John wise words.
3rd Comment on this subject. You slam CNN for incorrect grammar and then you use "damnit" and "overpayed" in your response. That is priceless! Or should I say "pricelist" 8)
@ELL – it's "hypocrite" (Such rampant irony in this thread).
If you kept them as personal beliefs I would have no problems, but they get shoved in my face day in and day out. I'm sick of it.
@DonTheCanuck – Well said.
I care more about the dog.
What about the terrists??
You people correcting the article need to get a life.
Blackwell-It's people like you that make me HATE people.