A small plane carrying two people crash-landed in a DeSoto County field on Thursday, and first responders managed to pull both occupants from the wreckage. The crash happened near Southeast County Road 760A and Southeast County Road 763, in a rural stretch of the county.
According to WPBF, first responders were able to rescue both individuals from the plane after it went down. The station reported that there was no word yet on whether the two people onboard were injured. That account stands in contrast to reporting from WINK News, which cited the pilot suffering serious injuries and being taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital as a trauma alert, while the other person on board was taken to a hospital in Charlotte County.
Fire Chief Describes a Hard Landing on a Ditch
DeSoto County Fire Rescue Chief Chad Jorgensen told the station that a twin-engine plane crashed in the field after running out of power. The same report notes that the pilot landed the plane on top of a drainage ditch rather than nose-diving into it, a detail Jorgensen credited for how the crash played out.
Flight-tracking data reviewed by the outlet showed the aircraft was flying from the Venice area before its tracked flight ended. The FAA was notified, and per the same account, the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Investigation Still Open as Cause Remains Unclear
Separately, FOX 13 reported that deputies had not released the cause of the crash, citing an open and active investigation. As originally reported by yoursun.com, a small plane with two people aboard crashed in DeSoto County, and both survived the wreck.
DeSoto County has seen aviation incidents before. A 2022 report from yoursun.com described a single-engine airplane crash in an Arcadia field, noting that DeSoto County Sheriff's Office deputies and Fire Rescue responded to that earlier wreck as well. For now, officials have not said what brought Thursday's flight down, and the investigation into the crash remains active.
