Good Samaritans in Alaska are being credited with helping save a pilot and two children who survived a plane crash on an icy lake Sunday night.
The Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser and its three occupants were reported overdue Sunday in the area of Tustumena Lake and the Kenai Mountains, near Homer, the Associated Press reported.
Roughly 12 hours later, the wreckage and three survivors were spotted by someone assisting in the search, CNN affiliate KTUU reported.
Dale Eicher, who has a background in search and rescue, had just begun his own search when he heard over the radio that the downed aircraft had been located on the frozen Tustumena Lake, he told KTUU.
“I called the troopers immediately because I was still in cell service, and I knew there was a very good chance the person who found them wasn’t,” Eicher told the outlet. “I was really shocked. I didn’t expect we’d find them. I certainly didn’t expect we’d find them alive… it doesn’t always turn out this well.”
After rescuers arrived, the survivors were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, KTUU said. The three are immediate family members, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told the AP.
The rescue was hailed as “remarkable and good news” by National Transportation Safety Board Western Pacific Region Chief Dennis Hogenson, KTUU reported.
Investigators working to determine the cause of the crash will interview the pilot and work on recovering the plane, Hogenson said.
