Three people on board a small Cessna plane escaped largely unharmed after the plane lost power, nosedived and flipped over as it approached Palo Alto Airport Thursday evening.

The single-engine Cessna 172 lost engine power near the airport and force-landed in a marsh southwest of the airport runway at about 8:25 p.m., according to Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane came to a rest upside down but the three people were able to exit the plane and walk to the parking lot on Embarcadero Road, according to the Palo Alto Fire Department.

One of the three plane occupants, a man in his 40s, reported back pains and was taken to a hospital. The FAA is not releasing the victims' identities.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the cause of the crash in the coming months.

The plane was flying in from Concord. The pilot reported the engine failure to the air-traffic control tower, according to Fire Battalion Chief Chris Woodard.