A volunteer pilot known for helping transport rescue animals to shelters died in a plane crash in the Catskill Mountains in New York on Sunday while transporting three dogs to a no-kill shelter.

Authorities say a pilot and a rescue dog he was transporting to an animal shelter were killed when a small plane crashed in the snowy woods of the Catskill Mountains, though two other dogs were later found to have survived.

A man who started flying rescue dogs about four years ago and became a dedicated volunteer died in a plane crash amid a rescue operation.