Private jet crash kills three Americans in south of France

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A private jet crash in the south of France killed three American passengers on Friday, AFP reported.

The Gulfstream IV jet burst into flames when it landed at Castellet's airport, between Marseille and Toulon, and split in two with one half ending up in a nearby lake after narrowly missing a hotel.

Emergency services were called to the scene and battled to put out the fire but nothing could be done to save those on board, an airport source said.

Two men aged 24 and 60 and a 30-year-old woman were pronounced dead, local police said.

An air safety official said the plane flew from Nice and crashed on landing at the private airport at Castellet.

An anonymous official told AFP: 'The plane broke in two, one bit ended up in the lake at the end of the runway and the other bit caught fire.'

'We saw a big grey plane that made a lot of noise before crashing,' said Florent Picaud, who works near the airport. 'There was a big cloud of smoke and flames coming from the plane. The emergency services arrived very quickly, it was impressive,' he added.

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