A small plane ferrying medical specimens crashed near Teterboro Airport, New Jersey on Friday morning and the two men on board were seriously injured.

Bob Gretz, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said the plane struck a tree after the pilot decided for reasons still unknown to abort the landing.

The twin-engine Beechcraft had originated in Reading, Pa., and was carrying blood specimens for Qwest Diagnostics, police said.

Authorities indentified the critically injured pilot as George Maddox, 54, who suffered extensive burns and the passenger, Sanil Gopinath, 42, who was bruised.

Police said the two men were found sitting on a curb, waiting at a nearby bus stop after the 3 a.m. crash. Both of them were taken to the burn unit at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ.

Federal Aviation Administration officials were investigating.

Teterboro is the same airport where a plane took off earlier this month before colliding with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River.

Nine people were killed aboard the two aircraft.

Pennsylvania New Jersey