Two young girls and a pilot miraculously survived a plane crash Sunday by huddling atop the aircraft’s wing for 12 long hours on a freezing Alaskan lake, according to witnesses and rescuers.
The 38-year-old man and two young relatives in his immediate family were spotted atop the partially submerged Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser in the Tustumena Lake by a volunteer pilot who stepped forward Monday to help search for the trio.
Terry Godes said he initially thought he had only discovered the wreckage of the crash.
“It kind of broke my heart to see that, but as I got closer down and lower, I could see that there’s three people on top of the wing,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
As Godes kept approaching and saying a prayer, he saw signs of life. The trio even waved at him.
“They were alive and responsive and moving around,” Godes said.
Godes notified other volunteer pilots about the incredible discovery, leading fellow aviator Dale Eicher to contact Alaska State Troopers.
“I wasn’t sure if we would find them, especially because there was a cloud layer over quite a bit of the mountains, so they could have very easily been in those clouds that we couldn’t get to,” Eicher said.
The family members, who were on a sightseeing tour along the Kenai Peninsula, were rescued from the wreck by an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter, which lifted them to safety.
While the two girls were relatively dry, the pilot was hypothermic to an extent, said Lt. Col. Brendon Holbrook, who commands the 207th Aviation Regiment.
None of the three sustained any life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
“It was literally the best possible scenario and outcome,” Holbrook said.
“Ultimately, the crew of that airplane were lucky, because from what my guys told me, that plane was in the ice with the tail refrozen, and if that tail hadn’t refrozen, it would have sunk.”
The miracle comes after a small commuter plane crashed into sea ice in the Norton Sound, which is on Alaska’s western coast.
All 10 people onboard were killed.
But Monday turned out to be a better outcome.
“They spent a long, cold, dark, wet night out on top of a wing of an airplane that they weren’t planning on,” Godes said.
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