A skydiving plane carrying 15 people crashed during the early stages of its flight after it went off the end of a runway at a small airport in southern New Jersey on Wednesday afternoon, according to officials.
The F.A.A. said the crash, which involved a Cessna 208B, occurred around 5:30 p.m. at Cross Keys Airport in Monroe Township, N.J., about 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Three people with critical injuries were taken to the hospital by a helicopter, according to Andrew Halter of Gloucester County Emergency Management
A spokeswoman for Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., which has a Level One trauma center, said trauma surgeons were at the crash scene triaging the victims.
The spokeswoman, Wendy Marano, said three people were taken to the hospital’s trauma center. Eight others “with less severe injuries” were being treated in the emergency department and four people with “minimal injuries” were in the hospital’s waiting room awaiting care as of Wednesday evening.
The Cessna was least to Skydive Cross Keys, according to Mr. Halter. He added that the plane had “reported engine trouble prior to the crash,” but the specific cause is still under investigation.
In a post on social media immediate after the crash, Gloucester County Emergency Management urged the public to avoid the area around the airport, citing a “mass casualty incident” after a plane crash. Several agencies were responding, it said.
6abc, a Philadelphia news station, showed footage of a frenetic emergency response on a rural road, including people being loaded onto stretchers.
A man who answered the phone at Cross Keys Airport, directed questions to a local skydiving company that he said owned the plane.
On its website, Skydive Cross Keys said it is the “epicenter” of “skydiving in the Northeast. The company offers tandem skydiving, lessons toward a certification and solo skydiving for those who are licensed, the site says.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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