MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Several people raced in to help in the moments after a deadly plane crash shocked onlookers on Saturday in Miami.
Those good Samaritans included a woman in her 60s.
Marleen Hernandez was on the Haulover Inlet Bridge Saturday heading to a birthday party with her parents and son when she saw a Cessna plane flying dangerously low.
“I looked up and the plane was literally 10 to 20 feet above us,” she said. “I’m like oh my God, this is so surreal, I never thought it would crash.”
Right before crashing, the small plane hit a car with a mom and her two young children inside.
Remarkably, they survived.
Hernandez’s mother, also named Marlene, saw them on the sidewalk. She ran over to console the distraught family, and the touching moment was captured in a photo.
“She held her, gave her water, she reassured her until the fire folks came,” Hernandez said of her mother.
That mother who Hernandez was helping has been identified as Aida Kazakova. She and her two small children were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Other witnesses were also seen risking their own lives to try and rescue the victims.
“Sadly, the fireman tried to go back to help the pilot, at that moment the police officer said stop don’t go near the plane, and then it exploded,” Hernandez said.
Sadly, the pilot, Narciso Torres, would lose his life in the crash.
The 36-year-old was a longtime Miami based air traffic controller. Two of his relatives who were also aboard the plane. They survived, and one now recovering from extensive burns.
Hernandez said recalling that day is painful, but she is thankful her mother was there to console the victims.
“She said in my heart I cannot leave her, I would hope God forbid if you were in that situation someone would do that for you,” she said.
Hernandez said she and her mom would love to reconnect with Kazakova again to see how she and her children are doing.
Local 10 News has learned the plane lost power before it crashed. The NTSB is continuing to investigate.