Alps plane crash: Three feared dead after light aircraft plunges into cliff face in Austria

Police say vehicle burned up after collision around 20 miles from Innsbruck

Plane crashed close to German resort of Garmish-Partenkirchen, pictured (EPA/Philipp Guelland)

Three people are feared dead after a plane crash in the Austrian Alps close to the German border, authorities have said.

The identity of those killed in the crash Thursdasy evening was still not clear but “there were probably three fatalities”, Austrian police told German news agency DPA.

The plane crashed into a mountainside cliff at an altitude of about 2,300m (7,500ft) and authorities said it burned completely after the collision in the Wetterstein region.

The small aircraft went down at about 5:30pm local time (4.30pm BST) in the mountains near the town of Leutasch, not far from the German resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Weather conditions had been good at the time of the incident, a police spokesperson in Innsbruck, some 20 miles from where the plane crashed, said.

It was not immediately clear where the vehicle was registered or where it had been heading.

Additional reporting by Associated Press