8 still hospitalized from skydiving plane crash shortly after takeoff from NJ airport
Camden, NJ – Three men remained hospitalized in critical condition and five others were listed Thursday, in the morning after a parachuting plane with 15 people on board crashed in a wooded area near a small airport in the south of New Jersey.
The only Cessna 208B engine has a radio to have engine problems after takeoff and crashed on landing on Wednesday evening near the cross Keys airport, around 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Philadelphia, the authorities announced. A first report published Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration said that the plane, with 14 passengers and a crew member, “crashed by returning to the airport after a track excursion in the trees”.
The spokesman for the hospital at the University of Cooper, Wendy A. Marano, said that the eight patients had undergone blunt trauma, including injuries at their ends and their lesions of soft tissues.
A woman working at Skydive Cross Keys, who rents the plane involved in the accident, said the company would probably have a statement later on Thursday.
“The plane tried to go back and try a landing told to us, but we did not succeed in this attempt,” said Andrew Halter, with the management of emergencies of the county of Gloucester, during a press conference on Wednesday evening.
The plane was seriously damaged, said Halter, and some of those on board were covered with jet fuel and had to be decontaminated before being taken to the hospital.
“Just the fact that we have 15 people who are still with us here today, some with minor injuries, I think it’s fantastic and remarkable,” he said.
Aerial images of the crushed aircraft show it in the woods, with several pieces of debris nearby. Firefighters and other emergency vehicles surrounded the premises.
Halter said the plane is held and operated by Arne Aviation outside Virginia and rented to Skydive Cross Keys. A message asking for comments was left Thursday morning for Arne Aviation.
The National Transportation Safety Board declared in an article on the social platform X that he was investigating the accident.
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The journalist of Associated Press, Mark ScoForo, contributed from Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania.
