An investigation has been launched into the mysterious case of a man who was found dead after seemingly jumping from a plane while it was in mid-air.
The cargo plane was forced into an emergency landing in the US state of North Carolina on Friday, but panic spread after it was grounded when it came to light that a passenger was missing.
The person in question, who has been described by local police as a 27-year-old man, was later discovered dead in a nearby backyard.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, as reported by PEOPLE, the twin-engine cargo aircraft made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in the mid-afternoon. A spokesperson later added than the pilot reported gear issues upon approach, although no explanation for why the now deceased passenger chose to exit the plane has yet been offered.
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As PEOPLE report, the pilot told authorities that the man jumped from the plane without a parachute.
Wake County Emergency Management informed several media outlets that the Fuquay-Varina Police Department recovered the individual after they were already in the area as part of a multi-agency search also involving the Fuquay-Varina and Cary Fire Departments.
Darshan Patel, Wake County Emergency Management chief of operations, announced the discovery after a resident "heard something in their backyard" and immediately alerted nearby officers, as per WRAL 5.
Video footage of the plane's dramatic landing was captured and uploaded to social media over the weekend, which appears to give credence to the pilot's suggestion of gear issues.
Footage obtained by ABC11 seemingly shows the plane's right landing gear not properly opening, which subsequently caused it to skid into a grassy area between the two main runways.
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Fortunately, the aircraft came to a halt without sustaining too much damage, although the case of the deceased passenger still remains shrouded in mystery.
Local resident Simon Palmore was one of the people who witnessed the plane's landing sequence.
He uploaded a series of pictures to Twitter, while also offering his account of the events to local TV station WRAL.
"I saw a whole crowd of people looking out the window at the jet bridge, and then saw that propeller plane on the grass beyond the runway and a couple of emergency vehicles," Palmore stated.
The aircraft itself was a small CASA CN-212 Aviocar, which can seat up to 10 passengers. Its currently unknown how many people were on the flight, which caused long delays at Raleigh-Durham International Airport for the remainder of the day.
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The ongoing investigation into the passengers death is set to involve aviation experts, as well as local authorities, in order to try and establish the sequence of events that led his fatal fall.
Aside from some minor injuries, no other passengers on the flight were seriously hurt by the emergency landing.
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Topics: US News, Travel, Twitter, Social Media