Chartered plane crashes in Mumbai's Ghatkopar

Five people were killed when a chartered plane crashed into a construction site in a thickly-populated central suburb of Mumbai on Thursday afternoon.

The plane was about to land at the Mumbai airport, when it crashed nearby in Ghatkopar. The black box of the chartered plane was recovered.

Among those dead were two pilots, two aircraft maintenance engineers, who were also on board, and one person on the ground, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. 

The small aircraft, which was on a test flight, crashed in Sarvodya Nagar of Ghatkopar area a little after 1 pm.  

Police officers, fire brigade and disaster management teams immediately rushed to the spot, Akhilesh Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-7) told



news agency. 

The aircraft was a Beechcraft King Air C90 turboprop.

Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary, Information, Avnish Awasthi said the plane had been sold by his state to a Mumbai company, UY Aviation, after it had met with an accident earlier in Allahabad. 

"A DGCA team will conduct a preliminary investigation into the crash," said DG Civil Aviation B S Bhullar, adding that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau would also launch a detailed probe. 

A video on Twitter showed a burning body near the crash site.

Images tweeted by news agency showed thick flames and black smoke rising from the wreckage. It took over an hour to put out the fire.

Further details are awaited.