Passengers swim ashore after plane makes emergency landing in Canyon Lake

CANYON LAKE, Texas – A small white plane made an emergency landing in Canyon Lake Tuesday after the pilot had to ditch the plane in the water, officials said.

Viewer video submitted to KSAT12 shows the plane in the water near Boat Ramp No. 6 on the south side of the lake, which is located northeast of New Braunfels.

Comal County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jennifer Smith told KSAT that two adult males from the plane swam to shore and were transported by emergency medical service to Christus Santa Rosa with non-life threatening injuries.

’I thought for sure they were dead:’ Man recounts helping passengers to shore after emergency plane landing in Canyon Lake

Smith confirmed the pair were traveling from Midland to New Braunfels.

Ed Sanford, a witness to the landing, told the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung that the plane “disappeared under the tree line but it came back up before it made a loud bang when it hit the water... It looked like he was trying to avoid going into the neighborhood, where there are houses everywhere.”

Vickie Monroe, who lives in the area, spoke with KSAT Tuesday afternoon saying she was outside when the emergency landing occurred but didn’t hear anything. “I’m surprised I didn’t hear it because my neighbors said it was a loud crash.”

Monroe told KSAT she and a contractor who was at her home “took off running and by the time we got there, the two guys were sitting on the shore. One guy seemed really dazed and confused.”

“It sounded like a huge, very loud door slam,” said Cynthia Graham, another neighbor who was in the area at the time of the emergency landing, in an interview with KSAT. “I saw one man crawling on his hands and knees and another man fully clothed on the shore.”

Graham said two men were helping the man who was crawling and that he appeared to have a large gash on his head.

Canyon Lake Fire officials told Canyon Lake Texas News that the plane is submerged in 15-18 feet of water.

A yellow buoy tied to the submerged plane is the only thing visible from shore, Monroe said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

*Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the landing as a crash. The FAA lists a forced or precautionary landing on water as a type of emergency landing.