Small plane makes emergency landing in Stafford Township

A small plane carrying five passengers was forced to make an emergency landing Sunday morning on a busy South Jersey highway, the Stafford Township Police Department initially reported on it's Facebook Page.

In a press release Sunday afternoon, Stafford Police said units responded to the area of Route 79 and Route 9 at 10:13 a.m. "for a
report of a small plane down."

"The initial investigation suggests that the small, single engine plane, carrying students from the Skydive East Coast Sky Diving School, lost power forcing the pilot to make an
emergency landing on the grass median between the east and west bound lanes of Route 72," police said in the press release.

Callers to NJ 101.5 reported that traffic was slowing down in the area as the plane made it's emergency landing new The Home Depot, not far from the Garden State Parkway.

"Officers at the scene closed the left lanes on
Route 72 in both directions for approximately 90 minutes while the
scene remained under investigation," the press release stated.

According to police, one sky dive instructor was treated
for a small cut on his arm. There were no other injuries reported as a result of the landing and no vehicles were involved.

"The investigation will be turned over to
Federal Aviation Administration for further investigation," according to Stafford Police.

One lane of the roadway was closed as of about 10:45 a.m., but traffic had not yet impacted the nearby Garden State Parkway.

According to the Associated Press, officials say five people were aboard the plane, but their names have not been released. Investigators have not yet determined what caused the pilot to make the emergency landing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.