MANCHESTER, Vt. — Three people whose small plane crashed Wednesday morning near the summit of Mount Equinox were rescued with the help of a helicopter that lowered a basket to pluck the trio from the snowy and remote location.

Jamie Greene, the Manchester Fire Department’s first assistant chief, described the injuries to all three people as “non-life-threatening,” and said each person was “awake” and “aware.” 

Following the rescue, all three were taken to the town’s public safety building. From there, according to Greene, two were transported to local hospitals for treatment and the third person was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in New York for “further evaluation.”

The entire rescue effort, he said, involved roughly 100 people. 

Greene, speaking at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, did not identify those injured in the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Safety Transportation Board would be investigating the cause of the crash and were scheduled to arrive Friday morning, he said. 

“Obviously, the snow helped cushion the fall,” Greene said. Of the pilot, he added, “he was able to guide through a couple trees just perfectly.”

The plane, according to online aircraft tracker Flightradar24, departed the Martin State Airport in Baltimore County, Maryland, a little after 6 a.m. Wednesday.

The tracker service did not list a destination for the aircraft, and Greene said he did not know the plane’s flight plan. 

FAA records indicated the plane with the registration number listed on the online flight track service was a single engine, fixed-wing Piper aircraft.

According to Greene, Manchester first responders received an emergency call from the pilot at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, although he could not confirm the actual time of the crash.

First responders had limited access to the crash site, and needed to navigate through snow up to four feet deep, according to Greene. 

“Obviously, snow was a big factor,” Greene said in an interview, describing the challenge of getting rescue workers to the scene of the plane crash. “Once they got towards the top, it got deeper and deeper.”

That prompted first responders to seek access to the site through a different, unmaintained route, enabling rescue workers, who donned snowshoes, to make contact with the people who had been on the plane, Greene said. 

“It was very rugged terrain, but our guys pushed through and were able to finally contact them,” Greene said. “Then we were able to get all of our manpower down there to help assist and get the medics in there (and) make sure that everyone was okay.”

At the press conference, Greene said two helicopters from a New York State Police aviation unit and one medevac helicopter from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center assisted in the rescue operation.

“We gave them the GPS coordinates of roughly where we were,” Greene said. “There was a lot of tree cover so it was hard to find us on the ground.”   

According to Greene, when he arrived at the scene there was fog halfway up the mountain. “It did lift up a little bit, which actually helped the rescue mission,” he said, adding that the crash site was at an elevation of about 3,200 feet. 

One helicopter, Greene said, “did all the hoisting and lifting,” and another oversaw the operation from the air. 

Along with the Manchester fire and police and Northshire Rescue Squad, firefighters and police from several nearby departments aided in the rescue. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife department and the Vermont and New York State Police also offered assistance on the scene.