Five die in Ukraine plane crash near Kiev

Five people have died in a plane crash near the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the country's Emergency Situations Ministry says.

The small plane was a charter flight travelling from the Czech Republic, the ministry said.

The aircraft came down while approaching Zhulyany airport outside Kiev, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol said.

He gave no further details of the incident.

The plane crashed several hundred metres away from a major highway encircling the city, Mr Krol told Associated Press news agency.

It slammed into a field and burst into flames, he said.

He told the French news agency AFP that the aircraft was a private civilian plane and had tumbled from the sky and caught fire at about 1508 GMT.

Rescue workers and investigators have been dispatched to the site of the crash, AP reported.