Two Chinese tourists and a local pilot were killed when a light aircraft crashed after taking off from West Tinian Airport in the Pacific for Saipan Island early on Sunday morning.

Another four Chinese people aboard the aircraft were injured in the crash. All six passengers in the plane, operated by Star Marianas Air, were tourists from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, according to a statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on Sunday.

The four injured were sent to hospitals in Saipan, but are not in a critical condition, the statement said.