A small private plane carrying six passengers and a crew of two crashed into a vacant, two-story office building in a Milan suburb in Italy on Sunday.

According to an Italian news report, all aboard perished on the plane crash.

The LaPresse news agency initially quoted firefighters at the scene saying the pilot and all five passengers aboard were killed. But later LaPresse and other media said there were eight people aboard the flight, including a boy.

The passengers were believed to be French, said Rai State TV.

Fire officials couldn't immediately be reached to confirm the nationalities or the number of people aboard the plane.

Firefighters tweeted that no one other than those aboard were involved in the early afternoon crash near a subway station in San Donato Milanese, a small town near Milan.

They said several cars in a nearby parking lot were set ablaze, but apparently the vehicles were unoccupied at the time.

A thick column of dark smoke rose from the crash site and was visible for kilometres, stated a report from PTI.

The building was reportedly under renovation where the private plane crashed into.