Santiago - The nine occupants of a Beechcraft 99A - including a 3-year-old - died Thursday when the airplane crashed in the southern Chilean city of Puerto Montt, some 1,000 kilometres south of Chilean capital Santiago.

The accident happened minutes after the plane took off from La Paloma airstrip, headed for Melinka island. The plane crashed and caught fire on barren land, some 500 metres off a wealthy neighbourhood of Puerto Montt.

"Something was shaking in the plane's left wing," one eyewitness was quoted as saying in Chilean media.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. (dpa)