A 12-year-old girl was the first to react when a small plane crashed into a river in eastern Nebraska Friday night, killing all three people on board, according to reports.
Paisley Fenner, who had never called 911 prior to the fatal crash, sent the first alert to emergency services when the ill-fated Cessna 180 crashed into the Platte River in Fremont around 8:15 p.m., according to KETV.
“It was like a boom, and you could hear the impact when it landed,” Fenner told the local media.
“We went outside and were like, ‘That is an aeroplane.'” My initial reaction was to simply call 911. That is just my first instinct. I had never had to do that before, but I knew it was what I needed to do.”
Fenner then described a terrifying scene in which her neighbours loaded their airboats and gathered their dogs to aid rescue efforts as the wrecked plane floated in the water.
The youngster said she is still processing the fatal crash, never expecting such a traumatic incident in her own backyard.
“We were all still in shock yesterday, trembling, crying, and shaking,” Fenner told the outlet on Saturday.
“And it still feels the same today, and we are still trying to figure out what happened. I have seen plane crashes on the news before, but I did not expect it to happen in my backyard.”
The plane victims were identified as Fremont residents Jeff Bittinger, 50, Randy Aemrein, 48, and Daniel Williams, 43, of Moundridge, Kansas, according to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate Friday’s incident, the latest in a string of deadly aircraft emergencies in recent months.
The cause of the crash remains unknown.