Woman Critically Injured After Plane Crashes into South Carolina Pond, Authorities Say

The Piper aircraft had just departed when it experienced mechanical problems, the Colleton County Fire-Rescue said

A woman was critically injured after her single-engine plane crashed into a South Carolina pond on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The Colleton County Fire-Rescue said in a news release that the crash occurred on private property in the 5000 block of Wiggins Road. The department said the Piper aircraft had just departed from Beaufort when it experienced mechanical problems and tried to return.

According to authorities, the property owner was in his yard when he heard the aircraft hit several trees and watched it nosedive into a small pond in the yard.

The property owner told officials that the engine was not running when the plane struck a tree. He ran to help the woman, who was the only person aboard the aircraft.

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“She was unconscious and suffered multiple injuries,” said CCFR in its statement. Her identity has not been released at this time.

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The CCFR told PEOPLE Thursday that it has no further update on the crash or the pilot's current condition.

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"The plane was on the edge of the pond and one wing was ripped off of the fuselage, spilling a large amount of fuel into the water and around the scene," authorities noted.

Emergency responders arrived and found the woman in critical condition, the CCFR said. With help from bystanders, the injured woman was later taken to a medical helicopter and then flown to the Trauma Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

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“It was very great to have that firsthand knowledge where [the property owner] could walk us through to where that [the crash] was,” Kenneth Campbell, a public information officer for the department, told Fox affiliate WTGS-TV. “Because again it was down a long and very narrow driveway and you could not see it from the road."

The Federal Aviation Administration told PEOPLE that their agency and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

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