Three Topeka men returning home from a business trip to North Dakota survived the crash of their small plane on a road west of Holton, Kansas.

Sheriff Tim Morse of Jackson County has not yet released the names of the three men.

First responders found the three men trapped in the plane.

Rescue workers had to cut through the top of the aircraft, which crashed just before ten p.m. Thursday in a ditch in the 22600 block of N Road.

 

Sheriff Morse says they were about 34 miles north of Topeka’s Philip Billard Municipal Airport when they began seeing and smelling smoke and the Piper Comanche soon began to descend rapidly.

According to the Topeka Capital Journal, the pilot and front-seat passenger were transported by ambulance to Stormont-Vail Regional HealthCare Center in Topeka with what Morse characterized as serious but survivable injuries. Both men were alert and oriented on the scene, he said.

The plane’s third passenger, who was seated in the back seat, was treated and released on the scene.