Two Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) construction workers witnessed a small plane crash in northwestern Minnesota and pulled the pilot from the wreckage before emergency personnel arrived to take him to a Fargo hospital, authorities said Wednesday.
MnDOT crew workers pull pilot from downed plane in northwestern Minnesota
The pilot was rushed to a hospital in Fargo, authorities said. His condition has yet to be disclosed.
June 22, 2017 at 1:59AM
The crash occurred about 8 p.m. Tuesday about 5 miles south of Mahnomen and near the local airport, according to the Mahnomen County Sheriff's Office. The pilot was flown to Sanford Health for treatment of unspecified injuries, the Sheriff's Office said.
A hospital spokeswoman identified him as Mark P. Habedank, 56, of Twin Valley, Minn.
MnDOT workers Doug Zarling and Erik Fitzgerald were driving back to Mahnomen and "saw the airplane about 500 yards in front of them, flying straight," said T.J. Melcher, a MnDOT spokesman. "It banked to the right and went down in the dirt. They saw it [crash] right there."
The pair called 911 and headed to the wreckage, where they got the pilot out.
