Tourist plane crashes in Switzerland, 3 people killed

Regional police confirmed that a plane had crashed near Ponts-De-Martel in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel.

A tourist plane crashed in a wooded, mountainous area of western Switzerland on Saturday, killing the three people onboard, police said.

Rescue services and police are at the scene of the wreckage. (AP)

The small tourist plane crashed in a steep and forested area near Ponts-De-Martel in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel at around 10:20 am (0820 GMT), regional police said.

"The pilot and the two passengers died on site," the Neuchatel police said in a statement, without providing further details about the victims.

The plane was registered in Switzerland and had taken off from the nearby Chaux-d-Fonds airport for a sightseeing flight.

A large rescue and recovery operation had been launched, police said, adding though that the crash site in the Neuchatel Mountains was in very steep terrain, complicating the work.

The cause of the crash remains unclear, the statement said, adding that authorities had launched an investigation to determine the circumstances.