A pilot made an incredible emergency landing on a major motorway between moving cars and lorries after experiencing engine failure shortly after take-off.

The light aircraft encountered difficulties and was forced to take extreme measures in the skies over Brazil. Motorists filmed the moment it descended onto the road, with many fearing it would cause a serious crash. Incredibly, the pilot managed to avoid nearby power lines and moving vehicles as he touched down safely on the tarmac, with no injuries reported. The pilot was later identified as 29-year-old Mateus Renan Calado, while his passenger was businessman Valdemiro Jose Minella, 71, who owns the plane.

Police confirmed that neither occupant was injured in the incident, which occurred after the aircraft departed from a nearby aerodrome in Guaramirim, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, at around midday on Saturday. The single-engine Pelican 500 BR reportedly suffered engine failure above the BR-1010 in nearby Garuva.

As a result, it was forced to make an emergency landing on the congested motorway as emergency response vehicles rushed to the scene. A female passenger in a car travelling behind the aircraft could be heard shouting: “It’s going to come down on the top of the lorry, it’s going to crash.”

At one stage, it appeared as though the aircraft would land on a grass verge beside the busy road, before it eventually touched down just in front of a tanker, seemingly coming dangerously close to hitting the central reservation. The vehicle in front of which it landed was forced to brake sharply to avoid a collision, but its driver also escaped unharmed.