Seven Years Old Survives Plane Crash

Due to a plane crash that killed four members of the family, a seven year old girl has been released from hospital a day after miraculously surviving the drastic accident.

Sailor Gutzler suffered only cuts and bruises and a broken wrist when the light aircraft came down in thick forest in Lyon County, Kentucky.

Her parents, Marty, 48, and Kimberly, 46, sister Piper, nine, and 14-year-old cousin Sierra Wilder, all from Nashville, Illinois, were killed.

Sailor, wearing a short-sleeve shirt, shorts and one sock, walked a mile through dark woodland in freezing temperatures before knocking at a remote house to raise the alarm.

Larry Wilkins, 71, told CBS News how he opened the door to find a little girl "standing there with blood on her face, blood all over her legs and her arms."

He added: "She said Mom and Dad are dead, we had a plane crash and the plane is upside down. 

"She was barefoot, she had on one sock, she walked all that distance barefooted.

"She's a brave little girl, extremely. She done a hell of a job as far as I'm concerned."

Her father was flying the twin-engine Piper back from a holiday in Key West, Florida, to Mount Vernon, Illinois, when he reported engine trouble.

The plane came down four miles east of the Kentucky Dam State Airport. 

Mr Wilkins said: "I pray for her, she's gonna need a lot of help. A lot of help." 

The cause of the crash is under investigation.