Four Oakland County residents were badly injured, but survived a plane crash after their single-engine aircraft went nose-first into the ground roughly four miles from the Pellston Regional Airport in the northern lower peninsula.
The group was travelling back to the area after a trip to Houghton.
‘They’re going to make it, and that’s a miracle in itself,? said Sylvia Garland, the mother of both the pilot and a passenger on the plane.
David Garland, 41, of Oxford, was the pilot, and his mother said his training as a fire fighter in Redford Township probably saved the lives of everyone on board.
Cynthia Garland, 47, was a passenger in the plane, as was her boyfriend Ernie Sartori, 52, and his 15-year-old niece, who Sylvia Garland said also resides in Orion Township.
Both Garland siblings were transported to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, while the 15-year-old went to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital.
Sylvia Garland said all four parties were still receiving medical attention at press time, and she and her husband were on their way to the area from Florida.
According to reports from various northern Michigan news outlets, the plane went down in a wooded area and one of the wings was found more than a football field’s length away.
The jaws of life were needed to remove the passengers from the plane, which went down shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday night.
Rescue workers arrived on the scene about two hours later, thanks to a cell phone call placed by David Garland.