A small plane made an emergency landing in the middle of a Georgia highway on Feb. 9, crashing into three SUVS and leaving two motorists injured, local police told USA TODAY.
The pilot landed the single-engine plane in the middle of highway 369 in northeast Georgia after the aircraft experienced a mechanical failure, Gainesville Police Department Capt. Kevin Holbrook said. One of the plane's fuel tanks crashed through the rear of an SUV and injured a motorist.
Holbrook said "nothing but luck" prevented the crash from becoming a "mass casualty" event.
"This is a large commercial area where a number of restaurants are just within feet of the road," the captain told USA TODAY. "We're very, very fortunate we didn't have a mass casualty situation."
Videoof the emergency landing shows the plane hit the ground in the middle of the roadway and twist at high speed into traffic. Photossharedby police show the single-engine plane stopped between a Pizza Hut and Golden Corral.
Federal Aviation Administration officials are on the scene investigating the crash, according to police. The road remained closed as of about 5:30 p.m. local time. The incident was reported to police at about noon.
The crash comes just months after a United Parcel Service cargo planecrashed into an industrial sitein Kentucky, leaving 15 people dead.
Was anyone hurt?
Two motorists were taken to the hospital in connection with the incident, local authorities said. The pilot and a co-pilot onboard the plane were uninjured, according to Holbrook.
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Where did the crash happen?
The crash happened near the intersection of Browns Bridge Road and Pearl Nix Parkway in Gainesville, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, police said.
According to Holbrook, the plane went down on a stretch of six-lane highway that serves about 100,000 vehicles daily.
Gainesville, a city ofnearly 50,000, is the seat of Hall County.
Where was the plane going?
The plane was departing from Gainesville regional airport, about a mile away from the scene, according to Holbrook.
The police captain said the pilot made an emergency landing after realizing the mechanical failure and determining the plane would not be able to return to the airport.
Watch the crash
Video and photos of the crash show the damage that happened as a result.
The front of the plane appeared dented in footage, and a propeller blade was twisted. An SUV in one of the photos from the scene had its front bumper knocked off.
ABC News shared footage of the crash on social media.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Small plane crashes into vehicles after emergency landing on roadway
