Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany has said he sustained minor injuries after a plane he was on landed on a lake, forcing him and the pilot to swim to safety. The incident occurred on Saturday night when the aircraft encountered a mechanical issue, according to the county sheriff’s office.

Emergency Landing and Rescue

Tiffany, the state’s Republican nominee for governor, was travelling in a small plane when the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Lake Wausau. Authorities received a 911 report of a plane crash on the lake at 20:49 local time (02:49 BST), and the pilot and Tiffany called for help once they landed.

“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,” Tiffany wrote on social media. The pilot also sustained minor injuries.

Rescue and Aftermath

Tiffany was coming home from a dinner in La Crosse County when the plane suddenly lost power as it approached Wausau Downtown Airport, he said on Sunday. According to the sheriff’s office, the pair managed to get out of the plane and to shallow water where a Wausau Fire Department airboat rescued them about 15 minutes later, at 21:05 local time.

The office said Tiffany and the pilot were the only two people on board the Beechcraft K35 — a single-engine plane, also known as a Bonanza, that can carry up to five people. “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.”

Investigation and Next Steps

He received a small cut over his right eye in the incident, his campaign said. The cause of the mechanical issue was not immediately clear, and the sheriff’s office said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

The plane remains in the lake as emergency crews work to remove it, the office added.