A REPUBLICAN governor candidate has been injured after his plane was forced to make an emergency landing in a lake on Saturday night.
Wisconsin Representative Tom Tiffany was forced to swim from the sinking aircraft with his pilot around 9pm on Saturday night before being rescued in Lake Wausau.
The 68-year-old confirmed on social media that both he and the pilot Leonard Boltz, 73, sustained minor injuries in the incident that occurred on his way home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner.
“The plane I was traveling in lost power as we approached the Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau,” he wrote.
“After landing, we called 911. As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and all of the first responders who came to our aid so quickly.”
During a press conference on Sunday night, Tiffany, who got emotional when recalling the incident, had a visible wound on his head.
“Len said to me, ‘We are going down, pull your seatbelt tight’ and that’s what I did,” he recalled.
“Ten seconds later we hit the water. After the plane settled we looked at each other ‘Are you okay? Yeah doing fine’ and opened the door.”
The pair stood on the sinking aircraft before deciding they had to swim to the shoreline and after going 150 feet they found a “high spot” in the lake that they could stand on until help came.
Tiffany told reporters that upon impact his head hit the dash and he needed 12 stitches to his eyebrow.
“We both have a few scratches – Len had four stitches, that was the extent of his wounds. I got 12 stitches in my eyebrow and other than that, just a few scratches,” he said.
“We’re really fortunate that God was looking after us last night.”
He went on to praise first responders saying, “I can’t thank them enough for helping us in that situation. This is probably just hitting me at this point.”
“We’re just really fortunate that we had a skilled pilot who knew what he was doing as we were going down after we lost power.
“He was savvy and quick enough to pull the landing gear up – he might has saved us as a result of that,” Tiffany said before wiping away his tears.
A report of a plane crash on Lake Wausau was received by the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office at 8:49pm, officials said in a press release.
They were alerted to two people in the water who were “alert and conscious,” per radio communications obtained by NBC News.
The Congressman and pilot were the only occupants of the four-seat Beechcraft K35 Bonanza aircraft and both were located and pulled from the water at 9:05pm.
They were then taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital for treatment.
“God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side,” Tiffany said.
“An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”
The cause of the loss of power is under investigation but officials have said preliminary findings indicate that the aircraft “experienced a mechanical issue” on approach to the airport.
