The pilot of a propeller plane died Saturday after it crashed into the garden of a house in Ronneby, southeastern Sweden, police said. Police received word of the crash about 3:40 pm (1440 GMT).

"A small propeller plane has crashed in the garden of a house in a residential area in Ronneby," which has a population of about 13,000 people, police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told AFP.

The plane caught fire, sending heavy smoke billowing over the neighbourhood. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire fairly quickly, the police said, and no one on the ground was injured.

However, the pilot, who was alone in the plane, was killed in the crash. According to media reports, the plane was a DA20, a light single propeller aircraft popular with flight schools and private pilots.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019