Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France, local authorities said.

The pilot and 10 passengers died in the incident, including five students and five instructors, according to local officials.

The plane, which was being used by a parachutist school, had taken off from Nancy-Essey airfield when it crashed, local media reported.

Police have urged the public to avoid the area around the airport in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department.

French transport minister Philippe Tabarot said he and interior minister Laurent Nunez were travelling to the scene of the crash, which he called a “terrible tragedy”.

Yves Seguy, the prefect of the eastern department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said that no bystanders were injured in the incident, according to the AFP news agency .

The crash took place in a built up area near a shopping centre, AFP reports.

“The plane fell almost vertically, in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate, on the edge of the airfield,” Seguy told French broadcaster BFM, adding it was lucky there were no additional victims.

Half of the skydivers who died were nurses, Thierry Pechey, president of the Meurthe-et-Moselle branch of the Order of Independent Nurses, told BFM.

Local officials also said relatives of the victims were present at the airfield when the crash happened.