NEWRY, Maine -- Recovery operations were under way Friday to remove four bodies from the wreckage of a light plane that crashed on a western Maine mountainside, killing a pilot and three passengers on an introductory flight lesson.

Images: Maine Plane Crash

Crews from the Oxford County Sheriff's Department, the Maine Warden Service and other agencies were set to climb Barker Mountain, where a Cessna 172 crashed Thursday afternoon near the Sunday River ski resort after taking off from the Bethel airport, according to WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine.

There were no survivors. The names of the victims have not yet been released.

WMTW-TV confirmed that the three passengers were students at Lewiston High School. They were among a group of junior ROTC members on a training trip, the station reported.

An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to arrive at the scene Friday.

Plane's Owner Issues Statement

The Cessna 172, operated by Twin Cities Air Service in Auburn, Maine, had picked up the passengers at the Bethel airport.

Twin Cities President Nate Humphrey released a statement on Thursday, saying that the pilot was a 24-year-old certified flight instructor with more than 900 hours of flight experience. He added that the flight had been conducted under visual flight rules.

Humphrey said that everyone at Twin Cities is deeply saddened by the incident and expressed his condolences to the victims' families.

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June 22, 2006: 4 Die In Plane Crash In Maine