FOUR people are thought to have died after a light aircraft crashed in a field today on the Isle of Wight shortly after take-off.

The small plane came down at Ventnor Road, Shanklin, close to Sandown airport on the Isle of Wight at about midday today.

A Hampshire police spokesman said: "The circumstances surrounding the cause of the crash are still to be investigated."

The spokesman added that police were liaising with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) which would carry out an inquiry into the crash.

A spokesman for the Isle of Wight Airport at Sandown confirmed that there had been four people on board the plane and none was believed to have survived.

He said: "This is a tragic accident. It was an accident soon after take-off and the AAIB will be beginning their investigation into how it happened."

The spokesman said that the aircraft had arrived from Tatenhill, Nottingham, this morning and had come to the airport previously but it was not a regular visitor.

He added that the airport was continuing to operate normally following the accident.