A small military plane of the Pakistan Army crashed into a residential area in the garrison city of Rawalpindi early on Tuesday, killing 19 people, including five military personnel, officials said.

The Pakistan Army Aviation aircraft on a routine training flight crashed in the suburbs of Mora Kalu village, killing 12 civilians and five crew members and destroying five to six houses, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the media wing of the Pakistan Army.

It said that all five crew members, including two pilots, were killed in the crash.

However, a local rescue spokesman said that 19 dead bodies were brought to hospital that included 14 civilians and five crew members.

Rawalpindi district commissioner Ali Randhawa said the incident occurred between 2.30am to 2.40am when a small military plane which was on a training mission crashed in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan Army rescue teams immediately reached the site and started the operations.

The ISPR said that rescue officials had extinguished the fire caused by the crash and moved the injured to various hospitals in Rawalpindi, where paramedics said most of the victims were badly burnt. At least 12 people were injured in the accident, officials said.

The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained and the rescue operation was completed by the morning, they said.

The village where the plane crashed is located close to the posh area of Bahria Town. Soon after the crash, a massive fire broke out that engulfed several houses in the locality. Some of the locals have also uploaded pictures of the burning houses on social media.

President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed their grief over the loss of lives in the crash. Pakistan has a poor air safety track record, with plane and helicopter crashes occurring frequently over the years.