US congressman swims to safety after his plane is forced to land on a lake
The small plane carrying Rep Tom Tiffany had a mechanical issue that forced the pilot to make an emergency landing on a Wisconsin lake.
US congressman swims to safety after his plane is forced to land on a lake
Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany said he suffered minor injuries after the plane he was aboard landed on a lake, leaving him and the pilot to swim to safety.
Tiffany, the state's Republican nominee for governor, was travelling in a small plane on Saturday night when the aircraft developed a mechanical problem, prompting the pilot to carry out an emergency landing in Lake Wausau, according to the county sheriff's office.
Tiffany said he and the pilot called 911 after they landed.
"As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat," Tiffany wrote on social media. The pilot also sustained minor injuries.
Tiffany said on Sunday that he was returning home from a dinner in La Crosse County when the plane suddenly lost power as it neared Wausau Downtown Airport.
Authorities got a 911 report of a plane crash on the lake at 20:49 local time (02:49 BST), the Marathon County Sheriff's office said in a press release. The two were able to leave the plane and reach shallow water, where a Wausau Fire Department airboat rescued them about 15 minutes later, at 21:05 local time, according to the sheriff's office.
The office said Tiffany and the pilot were the only two people on board the Beechcraft K35 - a single-engine plane, also known as a Bonanza, that can carry up to five people.
"God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side," Tiffany said. "An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is."
His campaign said he received a small cut over his right eye in the incident.
The cause of the mechanical issue was not immediately clear, and the sheriff's office said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.
The plane remains in the lake as emergency crews work to remove it, the office added.