Wisconsin Congressman Swims Away From Sinking Plane After Emergency Landing in Lake

A Republican gubernatorial candidate and congressman, Tom Tiffany, swam away from a submerging aircraft Saturday night after the small plane he was traveling in lost power and made an emergency landing on Lake Wausau in central Wisconsin.Mr. Tiffany was returning home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner in Onalaska when the four-seat aircraft, identified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Beechcraft K35, lost power while approaching Wausau Downtown Airport.“The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau,” Mr. Tiffany wrote in a post on X.According to the congressman, he and the pilot immediately called 911 after the aircraft hit the water. But the plane began taking on water and sinking before rescuers could reach them, forcing the pair to abandon the aircraft.“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,” Mr. Tiffany said in the X post.The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a Sunday news release that the plane experienced a mechanical issue while approaching the airport. The office said the wreckage was marked with a buoy and asked the public to avoid the area. The FAA told CNN the incident is under investigation.Dispatch audio obtained and verified by CNN captured the rescue as it unfolded, with an official at the scene confirming that both occupants had been pulled from the water. “Boat heads back to landing with two victims,” the official told dispatchers, according to the audio. “Both are alert and conscious.”Tiffany and the pilot were transported to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where both were treated for what the congressman described as minor injuries.“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,” Mr. Tiffany said in his post. “They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care.”Mr. Tiffany said his wife, Chris, was at his side at the hospital following the ordeal. “God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side,” he wrote. “An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”The congressman’s Democratic opponent in the governor’s race, David Crowley, also responded to the incident in a post on X, saying he was “grateful to God that Congressman Tiffany and no one else was hurt in this horrifying incident, which could have been a tragedy if not for the heroism of the pilot.”Mr. Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, won the Republican nomination for governor in the state’s primary election with backing from President Trump.

Wisconsin Congressman Swims Away From Sinking Plane After Emergency Landing in Lake

Wisconsin Congressman Swims Away From Sinking Plane After Emergency Landing in Lake

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