Costa Rica plane crash kills all 12 on board

The scene of the crash. Credit: Costa Rica Public Safety Ministry via AP

A plane crash in Costa Rica has killed all 12 people on board the chartered flight.

Investigators in the Central American country are looking into what caused the plane to crash soon after takeoff, killing the 10 US citizens and two local crew members on board.

The plane crashed soon after takeoff. Credit: Costa Rica Public Safety Ministry via AP

Officials said they were still seeking to confirm the identities of the Americans killed in the crash in Guanacaste in the north-west of the country.

However, five of the dead were named as a family from Scarsdale in New York state.

Tamara Steinberg Jacobson said that her brother Bruce Steinberg, his wife Irene, and their sons Matthew, William and Zachary had all died in the crash.

"We are all in utter shock and disbelief right now," Ms Steinberg Jacobson wrote on her Facebook page.

Smoke rises from the site of the plane crash. Credit: Costa Rica Public Safety Ministry via AP

Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica Civil Aviation, said the Nature Air charter flight crashed shortly after taking off just after 12pm local time (6pm GMT) on Sunday from Punta Islita on a planned flight to the capital of San Jose.

Mr Cubillo identified the pilot as Juan Manuel Retana and described him as very experienced.

Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said via Twitter that Retana was her cousin.

Earlier on Sunday, the same plane has been delayed in landing in Punta Islita by strong winds.