Five people including two children were killed yesterday when their light aircraft crashed into a hill inland from the French Riviera and burst into flames, gendarmes said.

The airplane crashed on a wooded hill just outside a residential area in Callas, near the southeastern city of Draguignan, at around 9.30 am (0730 GMT).

Regional government official Michel Gilbert said the plane took off from Cannes Mandelieu airport and was headed for the town of Ales, 300 kilometres further west. Gendarmes and firefighters cordoned off the site around the charred and mangled wreck of the aircraft, a single-engine Socata TB9. The accident sparked a small blaze, which was rapidly contained.

The victims, who have yet to be identified, were two men including the pilot, a woman and two children, gendarme Colonel Laurent Bitouzet told reporters.

A source close to the inquiry said a 46-year-old pilot from the Alpes-Maritimes region was among the dead.

The other four victims all belonged to the same family and lived in Ales. They were a 48-year-old man, a 75-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy.

Investigators suspect the plane suffered an engine failure, based on statements from several witnesses who said they heard stuttering motor sounds before it went down, he added.