Man rescued after small plane makes emergency landing in Lake Ontario, Toronto police say
A man was rescued after a small, private plane made an emergency landing in Lake Ontario near downtown Toronto on Friday, according to police.
Shortly after 2 p.m., Toronto police received a call from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport reporting that air traffic control had lost contact with an aircraft attempting to land there, Duty Insp. Lhawang Jongdong told reporters Friday afternoon. Civilians also called in to report seeing a small plane landing on the water near Ashbridges Bay.
Toronto police’s marine unit quickly dispatched boats and found the aircraft submerged in the water with a parachute attached to its tail. The pilot, a 49-year-old man and the only occupant of the plane, had been picked up by a sailboat. He was then transported to shore by Toronto police where paramedics determined he had only sustained minor injuries.
Jongdong expressed relief that the pilot was able to walk away from the crash without serious harm. The pilot, who is also a doctor, explained to police that he had taken off from Billy Bishop en route to an emergency medical call in Pembroke, Ontario when he experienced engine failure. He attempted to return to the downtown island airport but was forced to deploy the parachute and land in the water about 200 to 300 meters from shore.
Authorities are now working with Transportation Canada, Ontario’s Environment Ministry, and a local marina to investigate the emergency landing. The Coast Guard has also been notified of the incident. The plane, still submerged about nine meters underwater, will be removed by the marine unit with the assistance of the local marina on Saturday. Police are coordinating with the environment ministry to prevent any oil spillage from the plane.
The pilot has since been released, and the investigation into the emergency landing continues. The original HTML tags, headings, and key points from the initial report have been used as a reference for this rewritten post, ensuring a seamless integration into a WordPress platform.
