Lucky escape as plane gets trapped 300m above the ground

Two people are lucky to be alive after their light aircraft got trapped on a high-tension line in the Pilanesberg on Friday morning.

Video footage shared on Twitter shows the plane hanging precariously from the line‚ 300m above the ground. 

Spokesperson for the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination centre Santjie White said the aeroplane was attached to the Pilanesberg zip line.

She said the incident was called in at about 8:30am and rescue teams – from Mountain Club SA and the police’s air wing – were called in to assist. But getting the two occupants‚ a man and a woman‚ down would not be easy‚ and a second team had to be dispatched with more specialist equipment.

All the while‚ the occupants of the plane remained in danger.

Ultimately‚ after what White described as a “very difficult‚ technical rescue operation”‚ the two were carried out to safety. One rescuer went down the zip line and took the two out of the plane‚ carrying them to safety.

“They are safe on the ground.

“They were hanging on the line for quite a while. It’s the shock and all that stuff. They were incredibly lucky. But there are no injuries‚” he said.

Russel Meiring‚ spokesman for paramedic service ER24 which attended the scene‚ said: “Rescue personnel equipped both [occupants] with harnesses and began to lower them to the awaiting paramedics‚ 300m below. Once safely on the ground‚ paramedics found that both had fortunately escaped injury.

“They explained to paramedics that the only thing they could do was not to move as they were scared that the aircraft would fall.”