Hanoi  - Five Vietnamese pilots were killed Tuesday morning when a military aircraft crashed into a rice field on the outskirts of Hanoi, a military official said.

The Antonov An-26 light turboprop transport aircraft plunged into the field in Ta Thanh Oai commune in Thanh Tri, an outlying district of Hanoi, at around 9:30 Tuesday morning, said an official with the district military command who asked to remain anonymous.

"The accident happened during a training mission and all the pilots were killed immediately," the official said.

"The site of the crash was cordoned off right away. We don't know yet what was the cause of the accident."

In November of last year, a Russian-made Vietnamese Air Force MiG-21 fighter crashed into a house in Binh Thuan province, 700 kilometer north of Ho Chi Minh City. The two pilots in the plane ejected and survived the accident, and no one on the ground was injured. (dpa)