2 people swim to shore after small plane crashes into Texas lake

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Two people aboard a small plane had to swim to shore Tuesday after the aircraft crashed into a Texas lake, authorities said.

Investigators said both people aboard the plane, which crashed into Canyon Lake northeast of San Antonio, were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, KENS-TV reported.

First responders were called to the site in Comal County after the two-passenger Cessna aircraft lost power and crashed into the lake, Robert Mikel, assistant chief for Canyon Lake Fire & EMS, told the San Antonio Express-News.

“When we got there, the plane was completely sunk and the two men had been able to make it to the shore,” Mikel told the newspaper.

Jennifer Smith, the public information officer for the Comal County Sheriff’s Office, said the men were flying from MIdland to the New Braunfels Regional Airport.

Ed Sanford, touring his old neighborhood with his girlfriend, told the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung they saw a plane flying low.

“It seemed like it was sputtering a bit,” Sanford told the newspaper. “It disappeared under the tree line but it came back up before it made a loud bang when it hit the water.

“I’m no pilot, but he did well. It looked like he was trying to avoid going into the neighborhood, where there’s houses everywhere.”

Another witness, Cynthia Graham, told KSAT the crash sounded like "a huge, very loud door slam."

“I saw one man crawling on his hands and knees and another man fully clothed on the shore,” Graham told the television station.

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