Boy Scouts come to the rescue after South Carolina plane crash

COLUMBIA, SC -- Members of a Boy Scout troop out for a Christmas paddle on the Congaree River near Columbia, South Carolina came to the rescue when the pilot of a single-engine plane was forced to make an emergency water landing.

Boy Scout Troop 597, out of Dacula, Georgia, does a Christmas paddle every year. They were on the river in Calhoun County just after 2 p.m. Saturday when the plane passed them low overhead.

They later came upon the Mooney 20 submerged in the water and saw the pilot swimming away from it.

They helped get the man out on the bank, lit a fire to warm him up, and wrapped him in a blanket.

When EMS arrived, the ambulance was on the wrong side of the river, so the Scouts used their canoes to get the man to the emergency workers.

The pilot was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but he's okay.

The Scouts said they you never know when their training will come in handy, and this was a perfect example of that.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane had taken off from an airfield in Columbia. Authorities are still investigating the crash.