Girl (15) crashes with plane: "There was water everywhere, I closed my eyes"

Family and bystanders held their breath on Sunday morning on the French island of Réunion, east of Madagascar, when a small plane carrying the pilot and a 15-year-old Belgian girl suddenly crashed into the sea shortly after take-off.

The ultralight aircraft (or ULM) of the FK9 Ultralight type had to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off.

Miraculously, the French-speaking teenager and the aircraft's pilot survived the emergency landing and managed to swim back to shore on their own. The 53-year-old pilot helped the 15-year-old girl and brought her to safety.

"We took off and I heard the engine stop, then we fell into the sea," says the Belgian teenager to Réunion La 1ère. "There was water everywhere, I closed my eyes, he (the pilot, ed.) unbuckled my seatbelt and I got out on my own. We swam back to the shore. It was very hard, I was very scared."

The pilot injured his shoulder, the Belgian girl was unharmed, but was in shock. An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the accident.

(SR - Source: Réunion La 1ère - Illustration: ©Unsplash)