Three men remained hospitalised in critical condition and five others were listed as serious on 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 take-off and crashed on landing Wednesday evening near Cross Keys Airport, about 21 miles (34km) southeast of Philadelphia, authorities said.

An initial report posted on 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 likely have a statement later on Thursday.

“The plane did try to circle back and attempt a landing, we are told, but was unsuccessful in that attempt,” Andrew Halter, with Gloucester County Emergency Management, said during a news conference on Wednesday night.