A small plane crash-landed in front of a crowd on a beach over the weekend in New Hampshire, with a bystander capturing the whole thing on video.
Footage showed water splash into the air as the single engine aircraft came down into the waves at Hampton Beach on Saturday and appeared to flip over.
"On arrival, Engine 4 reported a single aircraft in the water, approximately 30 yards offshore," Hampton Fire Rescue said in a statement, adding that the sole occupant of the plane was assisted by state lifeguards and evaluated by an arriving ambulance.
"Notifications were made to United States Coast Guard, the FAA, NH DOT Bureau of Aeronautics, NH State Police and NH Department of Environmental Services," they also said. "Other agencies on scene assisting were Hampton Police and NH State Police Marine Patrol."
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What caused the plane to crash into the ocean was not immediately clear.
Images later released by Hampton Fire Rescue showed personnel pushing the plane along the beach after it was removed from the water.
"Deputy Fire Chief William Paine responded to the scene and remained on scene until the FAA Investigator responded and cleared the scene," Hampton Fire Rescue said. "FAA Investigator turned the plane back over to the property owner."
Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno told WMUR that the plane was carrying a banner and that the pilot did not suffer any injuries.
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The station reported that the plane had taken off from nearby Hampton Airfield and made a few laps along Hampton Beach and Salisbury Beach before flight tracking ended around noon local time.
Hampton Fire Rescue said it started receiving "multiple emergency phone calls" reporting a crash a few minutes later.
In October last year, a single engine plane crashed into a multifamily building in Keene, New Hampshire, killing everyone on board, authorities said.
Keene Mayor George Hansel told The Associated Press at the time that two people on the plane died. He said the plane hit a two-story barn connected to a multifamily apartment building. All eight people were evacuated from the apartment building due to a subsequent fire.
"We are very fortunate in some ways that the plane didn’t hit a part of the building where people were," Hansel said. "This obviously could have been much worse but any loss of life is a tragedy."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
