Crews recover the body of a woman from a US sinkhole

The remains of a woman who fell into a sinkhole have been recovered four days after she went missing while searching for her cat, a US state police spokesman says.

Pennsylvania Trooper Steve Limani said the body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard was being taken to the Westmoreland County Coroner's Office for an autopsy.

Authorities planned a midafternoon news conference to provide additional details.

The announcement came in the fourth day of the search for Pollard, who had last been seen on Monday evening looking for the cat near a restaurant 800 metres from her home in the village of Marguerite.

Pollard's family reported her missing about 1am on Tuesday as the temperature in the area dropped below freezing.

The search focused on a sinkhole that began as a manhole-sized gap and may have only recently opened above where coal was mined until about 70 years ago.

Hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard's disappearance told police they had not noticed the sinkhole.

Police said they found Pollard's car parked about six metres from the sinkhole with her five-year-old granddaughter sleeping inside.

The effort to find Pollard included lowering a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, although it detected nothing.

Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the chasm about nine metres deep.

Pollard grew up in Jeanette, about 19km from Unity Township, where she lived for much of her adult life.

She previously worked at Walmart and was married for more than 40 years.