When their plane skidded off a runway and crashed in Tennessee on Thursday afternoon, retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife, Amy, and their 1-year-old daughter, Isla Rose, escaped the aircraft before flames engulfed the cabin, officials said.
"They were extremely lucky," Elizabethton Fire Chief Barry Carrier said at a news conference streamed on WCYB, the NBC affiliate in Bristol, Tenn. "It looks like everything worked in their favor, instead of against them."
Nobody was seriously hurt, Carrier earlier told station WJHL. In an evening news conference, officials said Earnhardt's family and two pilots were "lucky to escape," according to WCYB.
They referred questions about Earnhardt's condition to his representatives but said he had been taken to the hospital "non-emergency."
Officials credited the quick response by area EMS and firefighters for helping the passengers and mitigating any potential environmental problems with fuel runoff.
"Under the circumstances, we are extremely blessed and fortunate," Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunsford said at the news conference.
Carrier said the plane was burning when the passengers escaped and that firefighters saw flames coming from where the family had just been sitting.
"There's a door near the front, the nose (of the plane)," Carrier told reporters about the condition of the plane after flames had been extinguished. "Beyond that, it's pretty much destroyed."
By 6:45 p.m., WCYB reported that Earnhardt Jr. left Johnson City Medical Center by police escort. He was the only person aboard the plane who was taken to the hospital, according to ABC News.
Those aboard suffered cuts and abrasions, and Earnhardt was "conscious and talking," Lunceford told reporters.
"Everyone is safe and has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation," Earnhardt's sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller tweeted about 4:45 p.m.
The family's dog, Gus, also was on board and was not harmed, according to the sheriff.
Elizabethton is 14 miles south of Bristol Motor Speedway, where Earnhardt was scheduled to work this weekend as part of NBC's broadcast team.
In a statement Thursday night, a spokesperson for NBC Sports said: "We're incredibly grateful that Dale, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, and the two pilots are safe following today's accident.
"After being discharged from the hospital, we communicated with Dale and his team, and we're all in agreement that he should take this weekend off to be with his family," according to the statement. "We look forward to having him back in the booth next month at Darlington."
Videos posted on Twitter showed the plane's fuselage cracked in two and a combination of flames and black smoke billowing from the opening. Photos taken later showed the plane was almost fully engulfed in flames.
The busy Highway 91 near the airport was closed to traffic as the plane sat burning, the Bristol Herald Courier reported.
In the evening press conference, Lunsford, the sheriff, said the road is heavily traveled, particularly at the time of the accident.
"The fact that no one was injured, we're extremely lucky," he said.
