Four people have died after their house was swallowed up by a huge landslide in Canada.
Rescue workers searched for 24 hours for Richard Préfontaine, his wife Lyne, and their daughters Amélie, 11, and Anais aged nine.
Dozens of police officers, paramedics, firefighters and residents joined the search after a huge crater - 1,600ft wide and almost 100ft deep - engulfed the family's home in the town of St Jude, east of Montreal.
But now local authorities have confirmed the family of four all perished in the landslide.
"The first two (bodies) have been extricated from the rubble and they have been confirmed dead," the Montreal Gazette quoted public security official Michel Doré as saying.
"Victims number three and four are currently being extricated," he added.
The family was caught completely off guard with at least two of them found still sitting on a sofa in front of the television, Mr Doré went on.
"We found them in the television room in the basement... where we were told that they would be."
Crews had to demolish what was visible of the still-upright house to get to the basement buried in sand and thick mud below.
A lorry driver initially raised the alarm when he managed to escape unharmed as the huge crater opened up around his truck on Monday evening.
A neighbour told the Montreal Gazette sinkholes and landslides are common in the area and said they are caused by the soft blue clay that lines the banks of the Yamaska River.
SAUCE