One person was injured this afternoon after a light plane made an emergency landing on the A12 motorway near Pinhal Novo (Setúbal district), hitting three vehicles.
None of the vehicle occupants were hurt.
Say reports, the injured was a Portuguese woman travelling in the plane which appears to have come down due to mechanical failure.
Fire chief Paulo Costa told TVI24 that the plane “touched” three vehicles as it landed, but didn’t cause any of them major damage.
It then appears to have crashed into the motorway’s central barrier in such a way that traffic flow in either direction was able to continue, albeit restricted to one lane.
GPIAFF (accident investigators) will now assess the scene to come up with a report on exactly what happened and why.
The injured woman has been described as in a stable condition after being airlifted to a nearby hospital.
This was the second serious incident involving a light plane this Bank Holiday weekend.
On Sunday a Bristell NG5 two-seater came down over an airfield in Leiria, killing both pilot and passenger – described as a pupil undergoing routine training.
An investigation has been launched but eye-witnesses described the plane as having climbed to a point where the engine cut out, causing it to “plummet”.
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