U.S. officials say that between 14 and 17 people died, including several children embarking on a possible ski trip, after a plane crashed into a cemetery in central Montana Sunday afternoon.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the single-engine plane crash occurred in the town of Butte around 2:30 p.m.

The Pilatus PC12 was heading from Oroville, Calif., to Bozeman, Mont., when the pilot suddenly cancelled the flight plan and headed for nearby Butte.

Earlier in the day, officials said that 17 people had been killed. However, the death toll remained in question late Sunday as investigators probed the crash site.

Officials were still investigating the cause of the crash late Sunday.

"We are just beginning our investigation," said Kristi Dunks from the American National Transportation Safety Board. "We don't have a lot of information at this time."

An eyewitness told the Montana Standard newspaper that the plane went into a nosedive after attempting a steep angle turn.

The plane crash occurred about 150 metres from the airport's landing strip and burst into flames, according to the FAA's Mike Fergus.

"We think that it was probably a ski trip for the kids," Fergus said, adding that there were no known fatalities on the ground.

Two witnesses, Martha and Steve Guidoni, were near the cemetery when the plane went down.

"We had just came out of the gas station, across from the cemetery, and watched it crashed. It just nose-dived into the ground," Martha Guidoni told the Montana Standard.

"My husband went over there to see if he could do anything."

The crash follows several major incidents that occurred in close proximity to airports in recent weeks.

On Feb. 25, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed into a field just short of the runway at Amsterdam's main airport, killing nine people and injuring more than 100 others.

On Feb. 20, a Ukrainian cargo plane crashed during takeoff from an airport in Luxor, Egypt. Five crew members died when the Russian-made Antonov An-12 cargo plane crashed.

On Feb. 12, a Dash-8 Q400 aircraft plunged from the sky, landing on a house in Clarence Center, N.Y., just outside the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. It was only minutes from making its landing.

Fifty people died as a result of the Buffalo crash, including one person who was in the home that was struck by the falling plane.

In January, a US Airways Airbus A320 reported hitting a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport and was forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River. All of the 155 people on board the plane survived.

With files from The Associated Press