CAMDEN, N.J. — Three men remained hospitalized in critical condition and five others were listed as serious Thursday, the morning after a skydiving plane with 15 people aboard crashed into a wooded area near a small airport in southern New Jersey.
The single-engine Cessna 208B radioed about having engine trouble after takeoff and crashed on landing Wednesday evening near Cross Keys Airport, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Philadelphia, authorities said. A initial report posted Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, with 14 passengers and one crew member, “crashed while returning to the airport after a runway excursion into trees.”
Cooper University Hospital spokesperson Wendy A. Marano said all eight of the patients there suffered blunt force trauma, including injuries to their extremities and soft tissue damage.
A woman working at Skydive Cross Keys, which leases the plane involved in the crash, said the company would