Six people were killed when a plane heading to the mining region of Mashava in central Zimbabwe crashed on Friday, local media report.

The plane is reported to have developed a technical malfunction midair before crashing.

Five passengers and the pilot died during the morning incident.

It was flying from the capital, Harare, and heading to Zvishavane in what is suspected to have been a trip to collect diamonds from the mines, the state-owned newspaper The Herald reports.

Broke into pieces

Emergency services were sent to the scene where the plane crashed and broke into pieces in the Mashava area of Masvingo province, National Police spokesman Paul Nyathi told reporters in the capital Harare.

Air crash investigators are at the scene as well, Nyathi added. The cause of the crash remains unclear but police investigations are underway.

The aircraft is said to be owned by Rio Zimbabwe Company, previously part of the British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto but is now wholly Zimbabwe-owned.

Not first incident

This was not the first incident involving a plane owned by Rio Zim to crash this year.

In February, a Piper 31 Navajo utility aircraft belonging to the company made an emergency landing in a field mere kilometers south of Harare, injuring the five people onboard.