A small plane has crashed onto a busy street in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, Prime Minister Ariel Henry says, adding that the incident had caused both deaths and injuries.

“I extend my sympathies to the families of the victims, who have been just plunged into the greatest desolation by this new tragedy,” Mr Henry wrote on Twitter, without specifying the number of dead or wounded.

The plane took off from Port-au-Prince on Wednesday afternoon (local time), en route to the Haitian city of Jacmel, the country’s civil aviation authority told Reuters, adding that it received a distress alert.

The plane crashed in the commune of Carrefour.

Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that six people were believed to have been killed.

Haiti’s civil protection authority did not immediately respond to a request for further details.

Videos circulating on WhatsApp showed the twisted wreckage of a plane in the middle of a road along with what appeared to the bodies of victims of the crash.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the origin of the videos.

-AAP