Two people were on board a light aircraft when it went down Sunday in La Mesa, officials said.
The plane crashed behind a church in the 5700 block of Lake Murray Blvd at about 3 p.m. and slid down a steep embankment, according to Andy McKellar with Heartland Fire and Rescue. The flight took off from Montgomery Field six minutes before it crashed, according to the flight tracking website, Flight Aware.
The first crew arrived within about three minutes and it took about 40 minutes to pull both passengers onboard to safety, Heartland Fire Captain Sonny Saghera said.
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"Firefighters were able to assist the pilot up the hill with a rope system the second patient of the airplane was laying on the ground fire crews were able to set up a rope system and put him in a basket and bring him up," Saghera said.
Both passengers, described as adult males possibly in their 50s, were taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries, fire officials said.
"This absolutely could’ve been a lot worse," Saghera said. "It looks like the pilots may have been able to find this small area of space which, this is a big parking lot, and were able to take it down into this canyon and luckily, they missed houses and the church."
Local
The crash took down several power lines, leaving hundreds of San Diegans without power, according to San Diego Gas & Electric. The utility company is working to restore power for those customers. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground.
