The pilot had reported mechanical failure before the aircraft crashed [EPA]

Luis Alberto Valey, a local police officer, said the single-engine plane crashed on Sunday morning about 40km east of Guatemala City, the capital.

He said that eight passengers were killed in the crash, along with the pilot and co-pilot.

Valey said the nationalities of the passengers have not been determined, but that they were believed to be foreigners.

The four injured people were taken to a hospital.

Two people were in critical condition and were being airlifted to the hospital, Carlos Salazar, an emergency worker spokesman, was reported by the Reuters news agency as saying.

"We do not know the identity of the 10 passengers who died," he said.

Juan Jose Carlos, a civil aeronautics agency director, said that nine Americans and five Guatemalans were traveling aboard the aircraft.

Five of the fatalities were US citizens, the other five were Guatemalans, including the pilot and co-pilot, he said.

The propeller aircraft caught fire after it crashed into a hill near the village of El Puente, local media said.

The aircraft, belonging to Aeroruta Maya company, was flying from Guatemala City to El Estor, in northern Izabal department, when it crashed.

A preliminary report by the Civil Aeronautics Agency said the pilot reported some mechanical failure before radio contact broke off at 1540 GMT.

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