It was no secret that Arwood was digging a two-story deep hole. Neighbors said it wasn't unusual to see children in the pit when the girl's father was working there.
Neighbor Bradley Jones, who works in construction, said there was no structure to support the pit's tall dirt walls and that there was some concrete on a ledge on top of the hole
Source: Father sobs on 911 after kids buried in collapse By MICHAEL BIESECKER
STANLEY, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man tearfully begged authorities to hurry to his house to rescue his daughter and her cousin who were buried under dirt in a 24-foot deep pit.
Thirty-one-year-old Jordan Arwood was operating a backhoe Sunday night in the pit when the walls collapsed, burying the children.
Arwood’s voice is heard on a 911 tape released today by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
He tells a dispatcher he can’t see the children and urges them to get there quickly. Then he begins to sob and pray.
The bodies of two young cousins, 6-year-old Chloe Jade Arwood and 7-year-old James Levi Caldwell, were recovered today.
Sheriff David Carpenter would not say what was being built.
Source: Father sobs on 911 after kids buried in collapse by www.poconorecord.com
In an interview with The Associated Press, Carpenter later said deputies had not yet interviewed the family living in the home but planned to follow up on neighbors' reports that Arwood was excavating the two-story pit to build some sort of a protective bunker.
"They were so distraught we hope to be able to talk to them today and come up with some information on that," Carpenter said. "It's a very large hole. It would look to be something like that, but I don't know. ... We're going to find out exactly what his intentions were."
He said deputies would be speaking with county planning and zoning officials about any potential building code violations at the site.
Andrew Bryant, a planner with the Lincoln County Planning & Inspections Department, said no permits had been issued.
Neighbor Bradley Jones said the children often played in the pit when the girl's father was working there. Jones, who said he works in construction, said there was no structure to support the pit's tall dirt walls and that he questioned the man about the hole's depth.
"I told Chelsea not to go in," Jones said, referring to advice he gave his teenage daughter, who babysat the children. "It was dangerous. There was nothing to reinforce those walls."
Source: Father sobs on 911 after kids buried in collapse by associated press