SAN DONATO MILANESE, (Italy): A light aircraft piloted by Romanian billionaire Dan Petrescu crashed into an empty office building near Milan on Sunday, killing him, his wife and their son, and all five others aboard, Italian media reported.

The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 had taken off from Milan's Linate airport shortly after 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) headed for Olbia in the north of the Italian island of Sardinia.

It crashed just a few minutes later in San Donato Milanese, a town southeast of Milan, according to aviation agency ANSV, which has opened an investigation.

Witnesses said the plane was already in flames before it crashed into an office building undergoing renovations.