A skydiving aircraft carrying 15 people crashed at Cross Keys Airport in Williamstown, New Jersey, on Wednesday, officials said, sending 14 people to local hospitals and leaving three in critical condition.

A skydiving plane with 15 people onboard crashed while taking off a runaway at Cross Keys Airport in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

The skydiving plane that crashed early Wednesday evening at Cross Keys Airport experienced midair “mechanical issues” and made an emergency landing on the runway but was unable to stop and plowed into the nearby woods, the company that operates the plane said Thursday.

After a plane crashed near Cross Keys Airport in Williamstown, New Jersey, Wednesday, fourteen people were taken to hospitals.

The outcome "could have been much worse," said the representative of Skydive Cross Keys, which has operated since 1994 at Cross Keys Airport in Williamstown. It said a Cessna 208B carrying 15 people developed "mechanical issues" at roughly 3,000 feet, minutes after taking off at about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Three people were critically injured and 11 others were hurt when a skydiving plane crashed Wednesday afternoon in Monroe Township in Gloucester County near the Cross Keys Airport, officials said at a press conference Wednesday night. The Cessna 208B skydiving aircraft, which had 15 people onboard, went down around 5:30 p.m., according to the FAA.

In a statement to Action News, the Skydive Cross Keys, the company that leases the aircraft, says the issues began around 3,000 feet in the air.

A single-engine Cessna 208B skydiving plane carrying 15 people crashed Wednesday evening at Cross Keys Airport in Williamstown, New Jersey.