Five killed in Australia plane crash

A single-engine aircraft carrying seven people crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday in eastern Australia.

Five people were killed when a plane carrying a group of parachutists plunged into a dam near Brisbane in eastern Australia on Monday, officials said.

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Two people survived the crash of the single-engine Cessna 206, including a woman who was found walking across a paddock with blood streaming down her face.

A police spokeswoman told the national AAP news agency that one body had been retrieved and four others were in the wreckage.

"Our investigator on site has confirmed there are five dead but four are still in the plane which is submerged upside down," she said. "We believe there are no other missing people."

One of the survivors is expected to undergo arm surgery after being airlifted to hospital while the woman, aged 27, appeared to have suffered internal injuries.

A local resident who was among the first on the scene said he came across the woman walking away from the crash with blood streaming down her face.

"As I was driving down there was a lady walking across the paddock," he said. "I ran across the paddock and she said that she'd come out of the plane."

The plane crashed into the dam about 500 metres from where it had taken off near Ipswich, about 70 kilometres east of Brisbane, said Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson.

It could take weeks to determine the cause of the crash, Gibson said.