Five people have been reported dead in a plane crash that dived into a construction site in a densely populated area of India’s financial capital Mumbai on Thursday.

“Five people have succumbed to their injuries after the chartered plane crashed, including one pilot, three co-passengers and a pedestrian,” Mumbai police spokesman Deepak Deoraj said.

There were four passengers on the 12-seater aircraft when it crashed shortly into the construction site shortly after 1:30pm (0800 GMT), said Mumbai disaster management spokesman Tanaji Kamble.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the plane was a turbo-prop King Air C-90.

It crashed while conducting a test flight from the nearby Juhu airstrip, DGCA said in a statement.

Images broadcast on Indian news channels showed flames and black smoke billowing from the area which sits right next to several high-rise residential towers.

It was not raining at the time of the accident and weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash.

DGCA said it was sending a team to investigate the cause, adding that the aircraft was owned by a private operator who had purchased it from the Uttar Pradesh state government.