Police have said that four members of a Canadian family whose home collapsed in a massive sinkhole in Saint-Jude, Quebec, were found dead Tuesday.

The body of Richard Prefontaine was removed from the basement of the family's farmhouse about 6:15 p. m., the (Montreal) Gazette has reported.

The newspaper also said that the discovery of his body was followed by those of his wife Line and their two daughters, ages 9 and 11.

Relatives wept and hugged upon learning the family's fate.

Rescue crews had to demolish the sunken house to gain access to a section of the basement they "couldn't see otherwise," Michel Dore, associate deputy minister of Quebec's civil security department, said.

Earlier, rescuers had found one of the family's two dogs alive.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has reported that the sinkhole was reported by a man who escaped with minor injuries after driving his truck into the hole Monday night.

Rescue workers had tried to approach the house Monday but the ground was too unstable and there was no sign of the couple, who were in their 40s, or their children, Quebec provincial police Sgt. Ronald McKinnis said.

Saint-Jude Mayor Yves de Bellefeuille said that the basement was filling with groundwater.

He added, "It was very hard to look at." (With Inputs from Agencies)