Zayra Garza and her husband, Damian, were driving down a highway in Laredo, Texas, Tuesday night when they came upon a small plane cut in half and engulfed in flames.
“I still can’t believe what we saw, to be honest” Ms. Garza said a day later. “It didn’t look real.”
The jet, a Cessna Citation, was flying to Austin, Texas, from Los Cabos, Mexico, when it reported major mechanical issues and low fuel just before 10 p.m. local time.
It lost contact with the Laredo International Airport tower and crash-landed on Texas State Highway Loop 20, a busy road on which Ms. Garza and her husband were driving with two other passengers.
Despite their shock, Mr. Garza jumped from the SUV and helped authorities rescue some of the five people who survived the crash. One person died in the crash.
In a phone interview hours after their surreal experience, Ms. Garza recalled taking a video which documented the tense and pivotal moments that led to the rescue.
The video shows flames and thick smoke emerging from the wreckage as at least two police officers tried to break some of the windows, Ms. Garza said. One person was seen trying to smash open the cockpit windshield.
From her vantage point a few feet away, Ms. Garza said that it appeared as if some of the people inside the plane managed to pry open the door. Her husband, who was wearing a red shirt, rushed toward it and held it open to allow the survivors to escape, Ms. Garza said in Spanish.
“He told me that the door was really heavy,” Ms. Garza said. “It was something that happened instantly. Time went by both fast and slow at the same time. He was only thinking of the people trapped inside the plane.”
Her video, which has circulated widely online, also captured other people passing by to stop and help. Ms. Garza, 42, a spa owner, said that she did not try to stop her husband, Mr. Garza, 42, a truck driver who is no stranger to helping people in need during his travels.
“That’s who he is,” she said.
Mr. Garza declined to be interviewed.
At one point, Ms. Garza said, she lost sight of her husband, who was still holding the door. She turned to the two spa employees who were riding in the SUV with her to ask, “Did he go in?”
Ms. Garza also heard one of the rescued passengers yell, “Help!” She later saw three teen passengers and two pilots exit the plane. All of them received aid from the authorities.
Minutes later, when ambulances and fire department crews arrived, Ms. Garza said that all nonessential personnel were asked to clear the area. Mr. Garza suffered minor cuts and bruises and had a lingering cough, but he was otherwise healthy, she said.
Officials identified the person who died as Joshua Baer, 50, chief executive and co-founder of Capital Factory, a venture capital firm based in Austin that invests in start-ups.
Mr. Baer will be remembered as a “fearless leader, a brilliant partner, and a dear friend to so many of us,” said Bryan Chambers, president of Capital Factory.
Officials with the Laredo Police Department said that they were trying to identify the other people who had stopped to help.
Miguel A. Rodriguez, Jr., the Laredo police chief, said that the plane also made contact with a car. The occupants were treated and released from an area hospital.
Ms. Garza said her husband would stop and do it all over again if he had to. About a week ago, she said, Mr. Garza told her that he had stopped to help an older couple who had crashed in the San Antonio area.
“I’m very proud of my husband,” she said. “I would not expect less from him.”
Georgia Geecontributed research.
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