Hallucinating 911 caller falsely reports plane crash

A 911 call allegedly made from a survivor of a plane crash turned out to be an actual nightmare. The 75-year-old caller, who has not been identified, had taken Ambien earlier in the night before dialing 911 on May 12, Komo News reported.

The disoriented man called at 2 a.m. to say he was a passenger in a small cargo plane headed to Renton to Oregon when it crashed. He told the 911 operator that he was pinned inside the plane that crashed in a field with trees.

According to the report, the man said three other passengers in the plan were not conscious, and that he couldn’t see anything out the window.

When reached by Komo News, the caller declined to comment but wanted to warn others about the side effects of Ambien. He said he had only taken a half a pill after having trouble sleeping due to a prior surgery.

“It must have seen really real to him for him to call 911,” Dr. Ganis Mazeika, a sleep expert at Sound Sleep Health, told Komo News. “It must have been like a real hallucination for him and that does speak to some of the potency of Ambien.”

Mazeika said a person should only take Ambien if it’s prescribed by a doctor.