McDuffie County, GA (WFXG) -
Almost as soon as a small jet crashed in McDuffie County Wednesday night, first responders were at the wreck working to save people from the massive crash.
McDuffie County Fire Chief Bruce Tanner was one of the first officials at the scene and he pulled the bodies of passengers, some barely conscious and others dead out of the fiery plane wreck.
"It was horrific, it really was," said Tanner.
Tanner says the plane crash that killed five people and injured two others left a huge path of destruction.
"Where the plane crashed was probably about a mile long, big parts of the plane were all in one place," said Tanner.
He says the jet's pilot walked out of the wreck and told them there were still other passengers on board.
"He said that there were six passengers on the plane, with him being the seventh one," Tanner, said.
Tanner says he and his men began searching the wreck for the passengers when they found one man still conscious.
"He was in a lot of pain and it was more moans and things like that than it was a conversation," he said.
Tanner remembers pulling the injured man out of the plane and moving him to an ambulance.
"It was a pretty physically taxing thing because we had to actually carry him out, probably about 300 yards through the woods," said Tanner.
Authorities say the two survivors were rushed the hospital, we're told one of them is in critical condition.
Tanner says working the crash site was one of the most difficult things he's done during his 18 year career.
