The plane, which had taken off from Millville in South Jersey, came down about 60 miles away in a densely wooded area in Eagleswood near the Jersey Shore, NBC40 reported. The plane was about 450 feet from the Eagle's Nest Airport, and the pilot may have been trying to land there.

The plane was carrying a pilot and three employees of Geo Marine Inc., a Texas company. The survivors, a man and a woman, were taken to Atlanticare Regional Medical Center.

Mark Ridge, a New Jersey State Police spokesman, said one of the passengers on the plane made a call from a cell phone after the crash to his company in Texas. He was routed to state police and was able to direct them by telling them when the noise of a searching helicopter was over the plane.

The three Geo Marine employees were doing a survey of coastal geology, bird life and currents for the federal government.