A Marine Corps sergeant was driving home from Camp Pendleton, California, listening to music and enjoying his drive when he suddenly saw a small plane slam into the ground.
“As soon as it hit, I just immediately pulled over and jumped the 76 and ran over to the crash,” Sgt. Morgan Vohs said in a Marine Corps press release.
“It looked pretty violent,” said Vohs, an engineer equipment mechanic with 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group.
The Cessna Caravan, according to its aircraft registration online, was headed to a nearby regional airport ― the Oceanside, California, Municipal Airport ― with two passengers aboard when it suddenly lost altitude. The plane was from a local skydiving company, local news outlets confirmed.
Vohs immediately ran to the pilot, 45-year-old Darren Mohle, and started to provide first aid, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
“Every Marine goes through it in boot camp. It’s called CLS, Combat Life Saving,” Vohs said in the statement. “Every Marine knows the basics of medical training. It’s just second nature.”
He was quickly joined by Army Sgt. Christopher Gordon, who also had been driving home from work, who took over the immediate medical care of the pilot, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
Vohs then sprinted to the other side of the plane to try and provide aid to the co-pilot, known as Marco, according to the San Diego news station.
But the damage from the crash bent the plane’s door inward, preventing it from easily opening.
After jamming a few fingers in a gap between the door and the frame of the aircraft, Vohs was able to rip the door open and start providing aid, according to the Marine Corps statement.
Mohle is currently being treated at Scripps Memorial Hospital, for multiple injures caused by the accident, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
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His co-pilot was being treated at the Palomar Medical Center and his condition is unknown, according to the outlet.
Vohs said he was tingling with adrenaline after he returned home from the accident, but was happy he was able to help.
“Luckily my response was fight, get in there, help,” he said in an audio clip released by the Marine Corps.
