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ITAWAMBA COUNTY, Miss. -- A plane goes down deep in the Mississippi forest after running out of gas.
Although the pilot was conscious enough to call 911, it took authorities a lengthy amount of time to track down the plane.
The pilot, identified as Greg Huggins, was flying the plane from Ocala, Florida to the Memphis area Tuesday, but only made it to a wooded area along the Itawamba and Monroe County line.
After calling 911, both Huggins and authorities faced an all new challenge finding his location.
"Several hours. We had the Lee County Sheriff's Department, Itawamba County Sheriff's Department, Monroe County Sheriff's Department," says Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell.
"We had all the game wardens all around. All the fire departments. I'm going to tell you all these firemen really came in and helped us."
I'm surprised they found it, honestly. I mean these hollows run so deep you can't, it's hard to find anything.
–Zach White, Guntown resident
Authorities began their search around 7 am Tuesday, but it wasn't until five hours later that they actually spotted the plane.
"He went into a wooded area. You'd just have to be right on top of him to find him," Cantrell added.
"I'm surprised they found it, honestly. I mean these hollows run so deep you can't, it's hard to find anything," said Guntown resident Zach White.
The land is part of a lease White hunts.
One of his stands is only yards away from where the plane came down.
It's an area he's familiar with, but because of the isolation he says it isn't hard not to get turned around.
Authorities say Huggins was telling the 911 operator all he could see was trees.
"There's no other way to describe it, there's trees everywhere," White said.
It was the call itself that may have saved his life.
"We got the National Guard involved to give us some better readings and we were pinging off those cells towers," Cantrell said.
Eventually they were able to find a central perimeter and that's when those National Guard helicopters spotted the aircraft.
Huggins has been transferred to Memphis where he is listed in critical condition.
